Pharmacist interventions in non‐prescription medicine use

Objectives The aim was to investigate the factors that influence non‐prescription medicines ( NPM s) recommendation by community pharmacists and to compare products available in different countries. Method A questionnaire was posted to all (217) managing community pharmacists in M alta and G ozo. Descriptive statistics were undertaken to obtain means ( M ) and frequencies (%), which were developed into cross‐tabulations. Eight international regulatory authorities were contacted to provide a list of NPM s, which was then compiled and analysed. Key findings A response rate of 91% was achieved. Demographics of community pharmacists participating were: mean age = 37 years (range 22–74 years), 69% female, 73% practiced in an independently owned pharmacy, 54% practiced > 10 years. Pharmacists were most likely to make non‐prescription recommendations for vitamins and nutritional supplements (99%), weight‐reducing aids (96%) and smoking cessation aids (91%). Pharmacists were asked to rate importance of possible influencing factors on a 5‐point Likert scale with 5 being the most important. Pharmacists were influenced by: ‘positive feedback from patients’ ( M  = 4.42) and ‘scientific evidence’ ( M  = 4.41). Non‐influential factors were ‘mark‐up of product’ ( M  = 2.75) and ‘product claims’ ( M  = 2.67). Pharmacists in the UK have a larger selection of NPM s for vitamins, dieting agents and smoking cessation than S witzerland, the USA and M alta. Conclusion The influential factors for the choice of the product were based on scientific evidence and the patient's previous experience.