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Pharmacy
Special Issues
Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicines Use
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Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicines Use

A special issue of Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 7593

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Paul Rutter

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, White Swan Road, Portsmouth PO1 2DT, UK
Interests: self-care; community pharmacy; clinical decision making and clinical reasoning; service development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Effective self-care relies on people taking responsibility and control of their own healthcare needs. Interventions with over-the-counter medicines form an integral part of how patients manage their own health, and the impact that community pharmacy services and the interaction of pharmacy staff have on supporting people to achieve this cannot be underestimated. Globally, community pharmacies provide the general population with easily accessible points of contact where highly trained staff are able to facilitate the courses of action and decisions that they make. This may be through opportunistic intervention or part of more formal commissioned services. What is clear is that without a community pharmacy network, people would be disadvantaged and/or primary medical services unable to cope with the extra demand placed on them. In this Special Edition, we are looking for researchers to promote and showcase work where OTC medicines are utilised by the general public. We are seeking manuscripts that cover the whole spectrum of self-care activity that involves the use of medicines. This may range from bespoke and discrete pieces of work through to evaluations of commissioned services at local or even national level. We hope you will take this opportunity to share your work in this Special Issue of the journal.   

Prof. Dr. Paul Rutter
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmacy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Non-prescription medicines
  • Over-the-counter
  • Self-care
  • Diagnosis
  • Community pharmacy
  • Health promotion
  • Health prevention

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 215 KiB  
Article
Creating Standardized Tools for the Pharmacist-Led Assessment and Pharmacologic Management of Adult Canadians Wishing to Quit Smoking: A Consensus-Based Approach
by Kristi Butt and Nardine Nakhla
Pharmacy 2021, 9(2), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy9020080 - 14 Apr 2021
Viewed by 3266
Abstract
Tobacco use continues to be recognized as the single most preventable cause of death worldwide. As the gatekeepers of and experts on pharmacotherapy, pharmacists play a vital role in facilitating smoking cessation. While existing frameworks have enabled pharmacists to provide smoking cessation services [...] Read more.
Tobacco use continues to be recognized as the single most preventable cause of death worldwide. As the gatekeepers of and experts on pharmacotherapy, pharmacists play a vital role in facilitating smoking cessation. While existing frameworks have enabled pharmacists to provide smoking cessation services in Canada for many years, the way in which they are delivered vary considerably across the nation. The purpose of this initiative was to create standardized tools for the pharmacists providing cessation services to ensure all Canadians wishing to stop smoking have equal access to consistent, evidence-based care. An iterative process using repeated rounds of voting was employed to establish consensus among key opinion leaders on the most important items to include in tools for the pharmacist-led assessment and pharmacologic management of Canadian adults wishing to stop smoking. The results were used to create eight standardized documents for national use by pharmacists: a readiness to quit assessment tool, a patient consent form, a patient assessment form for past users of tobacco and/or tobacco-like products, a patient assessment form for current users of tobacco and/or tobacco-like products, a treatment algorithm, a treatment plan summary form, a prescribing documentation form, and a follow-up & monitoring documentation form. Although not described in detail in these documents, other strategies for smoking cessation (e.g., non-pharmacologic strategies (including quitting “cold turkey” and behavioural interventions), harm reduction strategies, etc.) should be considered when pharmacotherapy is inappropriate or undesired; care should be individualized based on a patient’s previous experiences and current motivation. No single approach to treatment is endorsed by the authors. The consensus-based approach described here provides a suggested framework for harmonizing the pharmacist-led management of other ailments to optimize patient care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicines Use)
13 pages, 696 KiB  
Article
What Do Young Adults Think about the Safety of Over-the-Counter Analgesics? Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey
by Tahlia Duyster, Sara S. McMillan, Ella Whately and Fiona S. Kelly
Pharmacy 2021, 9(1), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy9010054 - 5 Mar 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3690
Abstract
Analgesics are commonly used over-the-counter (OTC) medicines readily available for purchase, sometimes without advice of a health professional. However, analgesics can cause harm even when taken according to dosing recommendations. Young adults may be more vulnerable to harm if they perceive low risk [...] Read more.
Analgesics are commonly used over-the-counter (OTC) medicines readily available for purchase, sometimes without advice of a health professional. However, analgesics can cause harm even when taken according to dosing recommendations. Young adults may be more vulnerable to harm if they perceive low risk with OTC analgesic use, or struggle to interpret dosing instructions. This study aimed to explore factors affecting how young adults use OTC analgesics and associated perceptions of safety. An online survey was distributed to school-leavers and university students (17 to 25 years), in South-East Queensland, Australia, in the period November–December 2019. Most of the 302 respondents (school-leavers n = 147, university students n = 155) did not use analgesics frequently. School-leavers deferred to parents for analgesic information, while university students preferred the internet. The majority of respondents appeared safety conscious and did not take outside indicated use or instructions. However, a small proportion reported taking analgesics for an inappropriate indication. The difference in preferred source of analgesic information may reflect experience with analgesic use, increasing autonomy or decreased parental influence. Whilst it is encouraging that the majority of young adults appeared safety conscious, greater insight is needed into factors influencing decision making on OTC use, e.g., medicines knowledge, and changes with increasing age. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medicines Use)
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