Title Experience of community pharmacists in providing advice about vulvo-vaginal complaints /
Authors Grincevičienė, Švitrigailė ; Vaitkienė, Daiva ; Sukovas, Artūras ; Grincevičius, Jonas ; Celiešiūtė, Joana
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Is Part of World Meeting on Sexual Medicine - 20th Congress of the European Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) and 21st World Meeting of the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM) : February 28 - March 3, 2018, Lisbon, Portugal : abstracts / ISSM. ESSM.. Lisbon : ISSM. ESSM. 2018, p. 1-1, no 585
Keywords [eng] Vulvar diseases ; Vaginal diseases ; Self-medication ; Pharmacists ; Counselling ; Professional-patient relations ; Lithuania
Abstract [eng] Background: Many over-the counter drugs are available for treatment vulvo-vaginal complaints. Choosing for self-diagnosis and self-medication can contribute to delayed diagnosis and improper treatment. Pharmacists are the gatekeepers for rational self-medication and refering. However, it is not clear which barriers they meet and which advantages they use during consultations. Objective: To analyze the experiences of community pharmacists advising on vulvo-vaginal complaints. Methods: A qualitative study to evaluate pharmacists experience in providing advice about vulvo-vaginal complaints was conducted from January to March 2015. New respondents were included till saturation was achieved. Twenty-one Lithuanian community pharmacists were interviewed, recorded and transcribed verbatim. The qualitative content analysis approach was used for data collection during semi-structured interviews and for data analysis. Interview transcripts and documents were content analyzed independently by 2 researchers. Consensus was reach during negation in cases of disagreement. Thematic coding of narratives was performed, data was categorized into hierarchic tree. Results: Four main areas of special attention emerged: Provision of the service; uncertainty during counseling, collaboration with other health care providers and gatekeeping. Despite wide use of over-the counter drugs for vulvovaginitis, pharmacists recognize their limitations for proper diagnosis and try to implement their gatekeeper role through providing reference to a physician, education of patients about the necessity to establish a diagnosis, and discussing possible complications resulting from irrational treatment. Pharmacists seeks to improve their service through collaboration with other healthcare providers. The main topics of advice are information on use, drug-drug interaction, adverse reactions, the spectrum of choices. While providing the service pharma [...].
Published Lisbon : ISSM. ESSM
Type Conference paper
Language English
Publication date 2018