Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 9, 2025
A Machine Learning Approach to Design an Efficient Selective Screening of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Published on: January 11, 2020
What influences the information exchange during self-medication consultations in community pharmacies? A
Jasmin Mina Seiberth1, Katharina Moritz1, Nia Sophie Herrmann1
1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Institute of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany; Drug Safety Center, University Hospital Leipzig and Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Background:
Although pharmaceutical staff consider guideline-compliant information exchange during self-medication consultations as crucial, they have not fully integrated it into practice. It is unclear what prevents pharmaceutical staff from implementing their positive intentions into their actual everyday practice. To improve the information exchange during the current consultation practice, a deeper understanding of its implementation is needed.
Objectives:
The aim was to evaluate the factors influencing information exchange during self-medication consultations in German community pharmacies.
Methods:
We performed a non-participant observation of real-life consultations with post-consultation interviews of pharmaceutical staff in 10 pharmacies. The information exchanged during self-medication consultations was evaluated via 7 guideline-recommended information parameters in 2 stages of information exchange: (a) 'information gathering' and (b) 'provision of information'. Directly after each observed consultation, pharmaceutical staff's opinion about the consultation, the customer's interest and their own performance was questioned. Factors associated with the observed extent of information exchange were analysed by Poisson regression analysis.
Results:
In the 379 self-medication consultations with 46 pharmaceutical staff members, 454 different customer enquiries were addressed, and 483 medications were dispensed. In median, 2 predefined information parameters (First-/Third quartile: 1/4) were fulfilled during an enquiry and 2 parameters (First-/Third quartile: 1/3) were fulfilled for a dispensed medication. Pharmaceutical staff were satisfied with 85% of their consultations and perceived 76% of them as easy to handle. In both information stages, information exchange increased when 'customers were perceived to be interested in counselling' (p < 0.001) and decreased when customers had a 'specific medication request' (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
Information exchange in pharmacies needs to be better integrated into daily practice. Strategies to encourage information exchange should also include pharmaceutical staffs' perception of their own counselling technique. Ongoing patient-centred trainings should facilitate strategies to engage uninterested customers or costumers with specific medication requests in consultations.
More Related Videos
06:28E-Patient Counseling Trial E-PACO: Computer Based Education versus Nurse Counseling for Patients to Prepare for Colonoscopy
Published on: August 1, 2019
11:21Methodology for Establishing a Community-Wide Life Laboratory for Capturing Unobtrusive and Continuous Remote Activity and Health Data
Published on: July 27, 2018
Related Concept Videos
01:19Factors Affecting Drug Distribution: Miscellaneous Factors
Age plays a significant role due to differences in body composition among different age groups. Infants, for instance, have a higher proportion of total body water and lower albumin levels, a protein that binds drugs in the bloodstream. This unique composition in infants enhances the...
01:28Factors Influencing Drug Absorption: Pharmaceutical Parameters
01:29Factors Affecting Protein-Drug Binding: Patient-Related Factors
Age stands as a key determinant in protein-drug binding. Neonates, characterized by low albumin content, experience heightened concentrations of unbound drugs such as phenytoin and...
01:01Dosage Regimens: Partial Pharmacokinetic Parameters
01:24Factors Influencing Drug Absorption: Presystemic Elimination
01:23Factors Affecting Drug Distribution: Physiological Barriers
The capillary endothelial barrier allows only smaller molecules below 600 Da (Daltons) to pass through. It also restricts drugs like heparin that are bound to blood components, limiting their movement within the bloodstream.
The...