Pharmacists’ Perspectives on Self-medication by Patrons of Community Pharmacies in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Self-medication with prescription-only-medicine is an important driver of non-rational use of medicines which is highly prevalent in Nigeria, with implications on patients’ health outcomes. Although high accessibility to community pharmacies gives strategic advantage to the Pharmacists to promote responsible self-medication and rational use of medicines, there is a paucity of reported studies on perceptions of community pharmacists regarding self-medication with Prescription-only-Medicines (POMs) among their clients. This study investigated views, attitudes and experiences of community pharmacists regarding self-medication with POMs. It sought to identify attitudes and experiences of community pharmacists on the subject. A cross-sectional design was explored using semi-structured pre-tested questionnaires administered to respondents. Eighty four registered pharmacists in the study area returned completed questionnaires. Data was managed using SPSS version 17. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse demographic characteristics and attitudes of respondents. Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare respondents’ views in terms of the volume of POMs dispensed without prescription, p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant for association. Most Respondents (99%) reported receiving requests for POMs without prescription, some as high as 150 requests in the week preceding data collection. Although 77% of respondents declined to supply POMs requested without prescriptions, 58% of them were of the view that they had the competence to dispense some POMs with proven efficacy and safety stable patients on long term therapy. This study highlighted the respondents’ views and attitudes towards strict control of POMs supply to optimize patients’ drug therapy needs.