Open AccessAssessment of pharmacists' oral health advice to clients without prescription using “By Proxy” method
Author(s) -
Savithra Prakash,
Shrudha Potdar,
Nagesh Lakshminarayan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the indian association of public health dentistry/journal of indian association of public health dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2350-0484
pISSN - 2319-5932
DOI - 10.4103/2319-5932.189839
Subject(s) - proxy (statistics) , medical prescription , advice (programming) , oral health , medicine , family medicine , pharmacology , statistics , computer science , mathematics , programming language
Background: In India, people commonly approach pharmacies rather than health professionals for their common ailments including oral health problems. Aim: To assess the type of medication and advice to clients without prescription provided for common oral health problems by pharmacists in Davangere city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in which ten simulated clients visited pharmacy outlets and presented with different oral problems to the pharmacists. The response of the pharmacists was recorded and analyzed. Results: Pharmacists mostly dispensed antibiotics (44.4%), antipyretics (33.4%), mouth wash (60%), and Vitamin B complex (66.6%) for tooth ache, tooth ache with fever, bad breath, and ulcer. Seven pharmacists refused to provide medications without prescription from a dentist. Twenty six (42.6%) pharmacists recommended the subjects to visit a dentist, whereas 35 (57.4%) did not. Conclusion: Pharmacists provided medications to the simulated clients who came without prescription from a dentist. More than half of them did not recommend the clients to visit a dentist