Research on the awareness of pharmacists regarding the rational use of medicines in providing pharmaceutical care for patients with cough of various genesis

S.P. Kaidash; K.V. Sokolova; V.Yu. Sliesarchuk; T.M. Potapova

doi:10.26641/2307-0404.2025.4.348306

Авторы

S.P. Kaidash Dnipro State Medical University, Volodymyra Vernadskoho str., 9, Dnipro, 49044, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3210-3560
K.V. Sokolova Dnipro State Medical University, Volodymyra Vernadskoho str., 9, Dnipro, 49044, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5022-3227
V.Yu. Sliesarchuk Dnipro State Medical University, Volodymyra Vernadskoho str., 9, Dnipro, 49044, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8777-1243
T.M. Potapova Dnipro State Medical University, Volodymyra Vernadskoho str., 9, Dnipro, 49044, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0184-3571

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26641/2307-0404.2025.4.348306

Ключевые слова:

cough, pharmacist, pharmaceutical care, pharmacotherapy

Аннотация

Pharmacists play an important role in the treatment of cough, which is a frequent complaint when seeking medical help and in 30-40% of cases is the main reason for a visit to the pharmacy. The aim of the study was to identify, through a questionnaire, the level of awareness, practical approaches and difficulties faced by pharmacists when recommending medicines for the treatment of cough.The study was qualitative, descriptive in nature and was conducted in the form of an anonymous voluntary survey using a structured online survey in Google form. The instrument was a questionnaire with 20 questions (closed and semi-open type), developed by the author based on literature sources and clinical guidelines. The participants were 42 pharmacists from pharmacies in the city of Dnipro. The survey lasted one calendar month.According to the results of the study, pharmacists demonstrate a sufficient level of knowledge about the causes of cough, tactics for selecting over-the-counter drugs, indications for their use and general recommendations for patients, which indicates proper training of specialists in basic issues of pharmaceutical counseling. At the same time, a number of problematic aspects were identified: insufficient knowledge about drug interactions, incomplete information of patients about the features of the use of over-the-counter drugs and untimely referral of pharmacy visitors to a doctor. Such gaps increase the risk of irrational use of drugs and negatively affect the results of treatment.The conclusions emphasize the feasibility of implementing additional training measures for pharmacists, in particular cases with role-modeling of clinical situations, which will increase practical competence, optimize pharmaceutical care and reduce cases of unjustified prescription of antibiotics by specialists.

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