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- Title
Management of diarrhoea cases by community pharmacies in 3 cities of Pakistan.
- Authors
Hussain, A.; Ibrahim, M. I. M.
- Abstract
Community pharmacies are valued for their potential role in the management of common ailments. This cross-sectional study aimed to document the management of diarrhoea by community pharmacies in 3 cities in Pakistan. Visits were performed to 371 randomly selected pharmacies to request advice for a simulated paediatric case of diarrhoea. The pharmacy's management was scored on a checklist including history taking and provision of advice and information. Customers were served by a salesperson in 97.3% of visits and by a pharmacist in only 2.2%. Medication was dispensed in 77.1% of visits. Of the medications dispensed, 58.7% were antiamoebics, 14.0% antibiotics and 18.9% antidiarrhoeals; only 8.4% were oral rehydration salts. None of the regimens matched with a standard prescription. The dosage regimen was explained to the customer in only 52.6% of cases. Drug safety, unqualified personnel, lack of history taking, inappropriate treatment and lack of counselling are concerns to be addressed.
- Subjects
PAKISTAN; CLINICAL competence; CONFIDENCE intervals; DIARRHEA; DRUGSTORES; MEDICAL quality control; MEDICAL history taking; STATISTICAL sampling; SCALES (Weighing instruments); SIMULATED patients; STATISTICS; U-statistics; CROSS-sectional method; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 2012, Vol 18, Issue 6, p635
- ISSN
1020-3397
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.26719/2012.18.6.635