Study on Consultation for Nonprescription Drugs at Pharmacies using Drug Information Database

• Published in: Iryo Yakugaku (Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences) Vol. 31; no. 6; pp. 457 - 463
• Main Authors: Oshima, Taeyuki, Takei, Masanori, Maida, Chieko, Miyamoto, Etsuko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences 2005
• Subjects: drug information; drug interaction; nonprescription drug; pharmacist; prescription drug
• ISSN: 1346-342X; 1882-1499
• DOI: 10.5649/jjphcs.31.457

Recently, as the concept of self-medication has gained ground, there has been increased interest in nonprescription drugs and supplements. To ensure that nonprescription drugs are used effectively and safely, we developed a drug information database for such drugs with a drug interaction check system and used it to evaluate the drug information for ensuring the proper use of nonprescription drugs available in pharmacies. We conducted a survey of 1, 380 pharmacy customers regarding nonprescription drugs which targeted such subjects as prescription-nonprescription drug interactions, nonprescription-nonprescription drug interactions, contraindications, and precautions of nonprescription drugs. By doing this, we found that our database gave drug interaction warnings for 18 customers. Also, nearly 3% of the customers taking nonprescription drugs had diseases for which they were contraindicated, and 6.6% were subject to precautions. As a result, potential adverse outcomes (drug-drug interactions, disease-drug interactions, or duplication) could be prevented in 2.0% of the survey participants. Thus it seems that drug information on nonprescription drugs in a database like ours is very necessary in a pharmacy. Our findings suggest that the drug information recorded in our database would be useful in the prevention of medication-related adverse events and for improving the quality of life of patients. They also suggest that pharmacy customers need to consult a pharmacist in order to ensure that the nonprescription drugs that they purchase are the most appropriate for them therapeutically.