The use of herbal medicines is increasing worldwide. While the safety profile of many herbal medicines is promising, the data in the literature show important interactions with conventional drugs that can expose individual patients to high risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the experience of the use of herbal medicines and preparations and the risks of interactions between herbal and conventional medicines among Latvian citizens. Data were collected between 2019 and 2021 using a structured questionnaire designed for pharmacy customers in Latvia. Electronic databases such as Drugs.com, Medscape, and European Union herbal monographs were reviewed for the risk of drug interactions and potential side effects when herbal medicines were involved. The survey included 504 respondents. Of all the participants, 77.8% used herbal preparations. Most of the participants interviewed used herbal remedies based on the recommendation of the pharmacist or their own initiative. A total of 38.3% found the use of herbal remedies safe and harmless, while 57.3% of respondents regarded the combination of herbal and regular drugs as unsafe. The identified herbal medicines implicated in the potential risk of serious interactions were grapefruit, St. John’s wort, and valerian. As the risks of herb–drug interactions were identified among the respondents, in the future, both pharmacy customers and healthcare specialists should pay more attention to possible herb–drug interactions of over-the-counter and prescription medications.
Nowadays, the provision of pharmaceutical care and effective communication with customers are being discussed more often. A pharmacist is a specialist in his field with specific knowledge in the field of pharmacy. Therefore, the trust from the customer’s side and a kind, informative, and professional approach from the pharmacist’s side are very important in this case. Objective: To clarify what knowledge do the pharmacy customers have about pharmaceutical care and how satisfied they are with the pharmaceutical care services. The research was conducted using a quantitative survey, the statistical analysis of the obtained data was carried out using data processing software Microsoft Office Excel 2010, 267 respondents from various regions of Latvia were surveyed. Only 37% of respondents understand meaning of pharmaceutical care. This means that most of the customers are unaware of the duties and responsibilities of a pharmacist. Most of the respondents associate pharmaceutical care with medication dispense, consultation and good customer service. It would be necessary to inform society about pharmaceutical care and its importance in healthcare. Conclusions: The hypothesis put forward in the thesis confirms that society needs to be informed about pharmaceutical care, and pharmacist duties and responsibilities.
Abstract. Presently, there is a new paradigm for pharmacy practice defined and a concept of the "sevenstar pharmacist"given.
The paper deals with establishment, implementation and development of electronic prescription or e-Prescription in context with e-Health solutions. It includes introduction of a numerous innovative solutions, which are to be committed for data information flow, data management and functionality as well as of establishment of a new feasible communication forms between doctors, patients and pharmacists. The aim of the study is to describe some technical aspects and functionality of implementation of e-Prescription system for medical institutions, patients and pharmacies; and, calculation of the total cost of implementation (TCI) for Latvian individual pharmacies. Several expecting financial aspects, which have encompassed evaluation of TCI, calculating payback time, ROI, NPV, and IRR are to be calculated. On the bases of these financial calculations, the primary investment of implementation of e-Prescription for individual pharmacies and initial costs are determined. Impact on individual parts of TCI with the scope to individual pharmacy size, location, existence or absence of formal information strategy has calculated. According to collected data, research paper shows how proposed electronic system is going to implement among Latvian individual pharmacies.
Worldwide studies on the safety of medicines for pregnant women show that most women know which medicines to avoid during pregnancy. However, a large number of women are not aware that the use of medication during pregnancy can lead to adverse events. This type of studies has not been conducted in Latvia yet. The aim of this work is to find out the level of awareness among pregnant women in Latvia about the safety of the use of different medications during pregnancy, in order to clarify the ways of improving it. Quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used in this study. Between September 2018 and December 2019, 606 women were surveyed. Expert interviews led to conclusions on improving the education of pregnant women and pharmacy assistants. About 75% of women have been taking medicines during pregnancy. Usually it was 2-3 medicinal products. Approximately 10% used 4 or more medicines. Most women surveyed are not aware that the use of medications during the second and third trimesters can have a negative effect on the mother or baby. Most women (78%) wouldn’t use medications without a doctor's advice, but 17% would if they consulted a pharmacist. Obtained results on the awareness of pregnant women showed that it is important to improve their knowledge of the safety of medicines. This can be achieved by improving the education program for pharmacy assistant pharmacists. A focus group discussion has been organised on this matter.
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