National initiative to promote public involvement in medicine safety: the use of a cross-sectional population survey to identify candidate behaviours for intervention development in Scotland

Jaheeda Gangannagaripalli, Laura McIver, Nouf Abutheraa, Richard Brewster, Diane Dixon, Margaret C Watson

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore the public's current awareness of the safe use of medicines in general, and over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics (painkillers) in particular, as well as their information-seeking and advice-seeking, medicine use and disposal.

SETTING: General population, Scotland.

PARTICIPANTS: Adults (aged >16 years) living in Scotland.

INTERVENTIONS: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in collaboration with Ipsos MORI (a market research company). The content was informed by a multi-stakeholder prioritisation event and supplemented with information from earlier studies.

RESULTS: The survey was completed in March 2020 by 1000 respondents, most of whom had used a pharmacy in the previous 12 months to obtain a medicine. Of the 1000 respondents, 39% (n=389) were 55 years and over; 52% (n=517) were women; and 58% were degree-educated.On receipt of a new prescription, up to 29.8% (95% CI 27.0% to 32.7%) of respondents proactively sought specific information or advice from the pharmacist. Few (5.2% (95% CI 4.0% to 6.8%) respondents 'always' discussed their new prescription medicine with pharmacy staff and 28.9% (95% CI 26.2% to 31.8%) reported 'never' engaging in this behaviour. Respondents aged >35 years were less likely to engage in this behaviour.Just over half (53% (95% CI 50.5% to 56.7%)) the respondents reported oral OTC analgesic use at least once in the previous month.In terms of medicine disposal, 29.3% (95% CI 26.6% to 32.2%) of respondents considered waste bin disposal to be of low or no harm.

CONCLUSIONS: This study identified low levels of information-seeking and advice-seeking from pharmacy personnel especially on receipt of new prescription medicines. Potentially unsafe behaviours were identified in the use and disposal of medicines. These results will inform the development of interventions to promote advice-seeking and increase awareness regarding safe medicine use.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere058966
Number of pages9
JournalBMJ Open
Volume13
Issue number5
Early online date11 May 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 May 2023

Bibliographical note

This study was funded by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (award number: NA), the University of Strathclyde (award number: NA) and the Health Foundation (award number: NA). We are grateful to all the participants of the stakeholder engagement event and especially to Community Pharmacy Scotland for hosting this event on their premises. We thank the team members from Ipsos MORI, and Ms Georgia Lowe in particular, for their advice and delivery of the population survey. We are also grateful to the Healthcare Improvement Scotland Medicines and Pharmacy Team for undertaking background literature searches to inform the development of this study and the preparation of this manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

Data are available upon reasonable request.

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