The Factors that Influence the Intention of Consumers with Cold-like Symptoms Who Visited Drugstores to Purchase OTC Drugs to Consult Pharmacists or Sellers / 医薬品情報学

<b>Objective: </b>The subjects of this study were consumers with cold-like symptoms who visited drugstores to purchase OTC drugs.  The purpose was to elucidate the factors that influence the intention of these consumers to consult pharmacists or sellers.<br><b>Design: </b>Analytic observational study<br><b>Method: </b>We conducted a survey of consumers who visited pharmacies or drugstores for cold-like symptoms.  Pharmacists and registered sellers (hereafter “pharmacists or sellers”) utilized tools to serve them, entering details in customer records.  We handed postcards to these consumers asking them to respond to questions about the prognosis and the degree of satisfaction about the service they had received.  We then used the customer records and follow-up results to perform linear regression analysis with “I would like to consult the pharmacist or seller again” (hereafter “desire for consultation”) as the dependent variable, and the usefulness of the advice and degree of satisfaction about the explanation and service as the independent variables.<br><b>Results</b>: We analyzed the data of 81 consumers for whom we were able to match the customer records and postcards.  The linear regression analysis indicated that “the usefulness of the advice (coefficient of standardization: 0.73)” affected the desire for consultation most, followed by “the degree of satisfaction about the service (coefficient of standardization: 0.24).<br><b>Conclusion: </b>We verified that, in self-medication assistance, advice that lets consumers feel the consultation was actually “helpful” by focusing on individual needs, and good customer service were necessary to increase the desire for consultation with pharmacists or sellers, and to encourage actual consultation.

Consumer Opinions on the Online Sales of Over-The-Counter Drugs / 医薬品情報学

<b>Objective: </b>To identify consumer opinions on the online sales of over-the-counter drugs (“OTCs”) and related factors.<br><b>Methods: </b>A Web survey of consumers was conducted.  The main questions were: (1) Respondent attributes; (2) Frequency of purchasing OTCs; (3) Behaviors while in poor physical condition or while ill; (4) Experience of side effects; (5) Experience of purchasing health foods and OTCs online; (6) Opinion on online sales, and (7) The reasons for their opinion.  Respondents were grouped into two categories based on whether they were for or against online sales in (6).  The distributions of the answers to (1) through (5) from these groups were verified using the χ² test.  Text mining was used to closely examine the answers to (7).<br><b>Results: </b>68.5% of the 2,609 respondents were in favor of online sales, with 31.5% against.  Females and elderly respondents had higher rates of opposition.  Consumers who frequently purchased OTCs, used drugs while in poor physical condition or while ill, and had experience purchasing health foods and OTCs online had higher rates of favoring it.  The top reason for favoring online sales was “convenience,” while the main reasons for opposing it were “safety,” “difficulty in selection,” and “liability.”<br><b>Conclusion: </b>Pharmacists will need to respond to consumer concerns when selling OTCs by developing the “ability to observe consumers’ condition and understand their concerns,” thereby improving their communication ability in face-to-face sales.