The impact of evidence from clinical trials on counselling for over‐the‐counter drugs: A national survey of pharmaceutical staff in German pharmacies

Abstract

What is known and objective: Evidence from clinical trials should form the foundation of healthcare advice. Comparatively little has been investigated about the implementation of evidence in over-the-counter (OTC) counselling in community pharmacies. The objective of this study was to explore the current impact of clinical trials on OTC counselling from the perspective of pharmaceutical staff. Methods: Pharmaceutical staff in German community pharmacies were invited to participate in a nationwide cross-sectional survey using SoSci Survey. Within the questionnaire, the following items were queried: (i) attitudes towards influencing factors on OTC drug recommendation, (ii) practical procedure of OTC drug recommendations, (iii) experiences and challenges in handling clinical trials, and (iv) current and desired continuing education on self-medication. Multiple logistic regression was employed to identify predictors for OTC recommendations based on clinical trials in routine. Results and discussion: In total, 1068 participants completed the survey. (i) Clinical trial data were rated as 'very important' for drug recommendations by 33% and as 'rather important' by 50%. (ii) 8% reported that they base their recommendations on clinical trial data 'in almost all consultations', 40% 'in most consultations'. (iii) 69% faced difficulties in including clinical trial data into their counselling. (iv) 7% read original clinical trials at least once a month. Predictors for routine OTC recommendations based on clinical trials were as follows: male gender, university degree, clinical trials considered to be important for recommendations, inclusion of clinical trials in counselling assessed as easy, higher frequency of reading specialized literature per year, increasing number of working pharmacists in the pharmacy, and more casual than regular customers in the pharmacy.What is new and conclusion: Most of the pharmaceutical staff recognize the importance of clinical studies for self-medication advice. Based on self-report, however, clinical trial data are not taken routinely into account in practice. Only a minor

What is the attitude towards and the current practice of information exchange during self-medication counselling in German community pharmacies? An assessment through self-report and non-participant observation

“…A precise number of individuals who received the survey is therefore not known. The study's data set was collected in a two-part online survey together with a study, which evaluated the use of clinical study data in self-medication consultations [41].…”

Evidence-based self-medication: development and evaluation of a professional newsletter concept for community pharmacies

“…To support implementation of evidence-based principles in the community pharmacy in Germany, a perspective paper was developed in a bottom-up manner by more than 4000 pharmacists [5]. This is particularly important, because pharmacists have not yet consistently implemented an evidence-based approach to their counseling practice [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. They face difficulties in incorporating research findings into practice [6].…”

“…This is particularly important, because pharmacists have not yet consistently implemented an evidence-based approach to their counseling practice [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. They face difficulties in incorporating research findings into practice [6]. Despite that pharmacists are obliged and encouraged to pursue continuing education [13,14], several studies have demonstrated a lack of pharmacists' knowledge and skills as major obstacles to the practice of evidence-based care [7,8,15].…”

“…Despite that pharmacists are obliged and encouraged to pursue continuing education [13,14], several studies have demonstrated a lack of pharmacists' knowledge and skills as major obstacles to the practice of evidence-based care [7,8,15]. In addition, due to lack of time in routine care, pharmacists have limited motivation to read original publications of clinical trials [6,16,17]. Hence, tailored instruments are necessary to provide scientific evidence to them in their everyday working life.…”

“…Producing an EBP professional newsletter was anticipated to be an appropriate core strategy by the ABDA and clinical pharmacists from Leipzig University. This was a pragmatic approach, since pharmacists prefer to read specialized literature that allows them to educate themselves independently rather than through fixed scheduled training [6]. Besides, providing a professional newsletter would serve as continuing education for many pharmacists with relatively small personnel and logistic effort [21].…”