[e-drug] RFI: Indicators for self-medication?

e-drug
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E-DRUG: RFI: Indicators for self-medication?
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Dear E-Druggers

I am working on a project which entails assessing the extent of self-medication in community pharmacies in a developing country.

I will be grateful to receive your experiences on the subject and any useful indicators for such a study.

Best Regards

Wiltshire Johnson
Drug Information And Pharmacovigilance Unit
The Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone Leone
64 Siaka Stevens Street
Freetown
Tel: 00-232-22-225983 / 00232-22-228497
Fax: 00-232-22-224526
infopharm_pbsl@yahoo.com

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E-DRUG: RFI: Indicators for self-medication? (2)
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Hi Mr. Johnson,

Your project on the assessment of self-medication practices in Community Pharmacies, I would assume, in a country such as Sierra Leone, where little or no systematic studies on community pharmacy practice exists is not only appropriate but very timely.

As you might already know, robust tools to evaluate the extent or better still, the appropriateness of self-medication are sparse in the literature and may still need to be developed. However, you may find the following publications useful:

Sclafer, J., Slamet, L. S. & de Visscher, G. (1997)
Appropriateness of self-medication: method development and testing in urban Indonesia.Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 22 (4), 261-272.

W. K. Chui PhD and S. C. Li PhD MBA MS. (2005) Advice-giving on self-medication: perspectives of community pharmacists and consumers in Singapore. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 30:3, 225-231.

You may also find my MSc thesis on Community Pharmacy Practice and Medicines Regulation in Sierra Leone very helpful. This study utilized a number of qualitative and quantitative methodologies that may be adapted to any study in that setting. You can actually download it via the dissertation database "ProQuest PQDD" or simply click on the URL shown below:

http://wwwlib.umi.com/pqdd-pdf/b0cb9e8c0a768280220bf7fd41012f47/6370665

Hope this helps and hope other e-druggers could make additional input.

Regards,

Moses N. P. Batema, BSc Ed, BPharm(Hons), MSc(PharmSci)
Research Associate
Graduate Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
19 Russell Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 2S2
Tel: 416-946-8146
moses.batema@utoronto.ca

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E-DRUG: Sierra Leone community pharmacy practice & medicines regulation
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E-druggers,

Sierra Leone: an exploratory study of community pharmacy practice and medicines regulation

The study titled above was a research study carried out in part fulfilment of the requirements for my MSc degree at the University of Toronto - Canada. Two papers for peer-reviewed publications are anticipated from this study - one examining a more qualitative component of the pharmacy practice and regulatory framework in Sierra Leone and another a quantitative indicator-based survey of pharmacy facilities and dispensing processes.

My personal opinion has always been that the contents of this study need to be made available for wide readership to people (regulators, policy-makers, pharmacists, social science researchers etc) in developing country and resource-limited settings, where I am confident this might evoke some interesting policy innovations and lessons.

E-druggers may wish to recommend appropriate journals and/or other publications where such studies might make the intended impact just highlighted.

Grateful for your suggestions!

Moses N. P. Batema, BSc Ed, BPharm(Hons), MSc(PharmSci)
Research Associate
Graduate Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
19 Russell Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 2S2
Tel: 416-946-8146
moses.batema@utoronto.ca