PATIENT ATTITUDES TO OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUGS AND POSSIBLE PROFESSIONALRESPONSES TO SELF-MEDICATION

Background. There is a paucity of research about patients' attitudes t owards their doctor's recommending over-the-counter (OTC) remedies or about how patients respond to the doctor's suggestion to try OTC remed y. Objectives. The aim of this study was to ascertain the attitudes of patients to OTC drugs. Methods. 505 consecutive patients from each of six participating practices filled in a questionnaire. Results. A tot al of 2765 (91.3%) patients responded. The responses from 2624 patient s were from adults and are presented here. Based on the number of vali d responses to each question, 53.8% of these patients were exempt from prescription charges, 55.1% took regular prescribed medication and 24 .6% stated that they used OTC remedies regularly. There were generally positive attitudes to doctors enquiring about prior OTC use as well a s to doctors making OTC recommendations in the consultation. However, patients expressed fairly negative attitudes towards pharmacists makin g generic substitutions and were even more hostile to the idea that ph armacists should make therapeutic substitutions. Conclusion. In conclu sion, GPs should consider asking their patients regularly about their use of OTC medicines and also consider recommending OTC use if this is cheaper than FP10s. However, the public at present do not appear to b e prepared for interventions by the pharmacist.