Investigation and analysis of the current usage status of OTC drug among Inner Mongolian residents / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To investigate the current usage status of OTC drug among residents in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， and to provide evidence for the science popularization of rational drug use. METHODS By approximate random sampling， the questionnaire survey was conducted with the mini-apps Questionnaire Star among the residents aged 19 and above from 7 league or cities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， in order to investigate the current situation of OTC drug use in the region. RESULTS A total of 611 people filled in the questionnaire， and 571 people filled in the questionnaire effectively， with an effective filling rate of 93.45%. According to the results， 18.7% of residents said they did not understand the concept of OTC drugs， 36.1% of residents said they did not know the OTC drug label， and 65.3% of residents did not know the difference between class A and B OTC drugs in terms of OTC drug awareness. And there were statistically significant differences in the scores of OTC drug awareness among different genders， education levels， monthly income and places of residence （P＜0.05）. When choosing OTC drugs， 23.5% of residents still believed in advertisements or friends’ recommendations； 14.5% of the residents did not read the drug instructions carefully before taking drugs. In terms of drug risk， 5.1% of residents had long-term use of OTC drugs； 8.6% of residents reported taking three or more OTC drugs； 2.1% of residents often added other drugs with the same effect or increased the dosage by themselves. They took traditional Chinese medicine， Mongolian medicine and other preparations while taking OTC drugs， accounting for 19.6%， 22.6% and 13.0% respectively. CONCLUSIONS Residents in Inner Mongolia have low awareness of OTC drugs， and their habits of drug use need to be improved. Repeated drug use and overdose drug use are serious， it is necessary to strengthen the publicity and popularization of rational use of OTC drugs.

Development of a Training Program on the Proper Use of Over-the-Counter Drugs for Pharmacy Pharmacists / 社会薬学

The importance of promoting self-medication is increasing, and the active participation of pharmacies is required to support this. We developed a training program based on the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) model, which is a motivational design process to train pharmacists who support the proper use of OTC drugs, and for insurance pharmacists who usually perform dispensing work. In the six months of training, we conducted six sessions for insurance pharmacists on the subject of colds and constipation. In addition to conducting lectures and exercises on OTC drugs, we provided pharmacists with an opportunity to practice the training content during their daily work, and discuss solutions to the problems that they encountered. Of the eight participants who attended all workshops and were part of the final evaluation, seven provided OTC drugs after considering whether it was necessary to provide them. A total of six advised patients who came to the pharmacy to have their prescription medications dispensed that there were OTC medications that they should be careful about taking. These results suggest the usefulness of this training program based on the ARCS motivational design model.

Investigation and Analysis of the Understanding of Pharmacy Practitioners in Retail Pharmacies and Parents to Children’s OTC Drug Knowledge / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE：To standardize the use of children’s over-the-counter（OTC）drugs in China，control the risk of children’s self medication and ensure the safety of children’s medication. METHODS：The questionnaire was randomly distributed to pharmacy practitioners in retail pharmacies in 13/parents in 16 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government. The results of questionnaire survey were analyzed descriptively. The corresponding suggestions were put forward for the problems existing in the use of OTC drugs for children among pharmacy practitioners in retail pharmacies and parents.RESULTS：Totally 5 367 people filled the questionnaire at pharmacies，and 5 353 questionnaires were filled validly with effective rate of 99.74％；the number of consumers（parents）who filled the questionnaires was 6 111，and 5 094 questionnaires were filled validly with effective rate of 83.36％. The results of survey showed that 93.67％ of retail pharmacies were equipped with 1-2licensed pharmacists；most of the employees in pharmacies had college degree（46.59％），and their professional knowledge was relatively weak，and only 30.00％ of them were very familiar with pharmaceutical professional knowledge. Pharmacy practitioners could provide basic pharmaceutical care，but they were not sensitive to the information of children’s age and weight；only 44.11％of the practitioners would approve the dosage according to the age and weight of the children；98.09％ of pharmacies would regularly conduct OTC drugs knowledge training，but they did not pay attention to the knowledge of children related to drug use. About half of the pharmacy practitioners were very clear about the indications，usage and dosage，precautions of OTC drugs forchildren. About 70％ of parents did not fully understand the difference between prescription drugs，green OTC drugs and red OTC drugs，and did not know the risk of home OTC treatment；63.06％ of parents chose OTC drugs according to their previous experience， and 23.05％ of parents relied on drug advertisements to choose OTC drugs； 92.64％ of parents would read the drug instruction carefully before using OTC drugs， but they had blind spots in understanding many contents of the drug instruction. In the process of OTC drug use，46.21％ of parents had used adult OTC drugs for their children，and 41.54％ of parents did not convert the amount of children；52.89％ of parents said that their children suffered from adverse reactions after taking OTC drugs. CONCLUSIONS：The pharmacy practitioners have low education on the whole，professional level needs to be improved，their understanding of children’s OTC drugs is not comprehensive enough，and there is a lack oftraining on children’s medication knowledge. Parents have a poor awareness of children’s OTC drugs，and there are many problems in the process of using children’s OTC drugs，such as inaccurate dosage，using adult’s drugs. It is suggested that we should improve the access standard of pharmacy practitioners and increase the number of licensed pharmacists；organize special training on safe drug use for children to improve the pharmaceutical service ability of pharmacies；strengthen the supervision of retail pharmacies and formulate pharmaceutical care standards for the use of OTC drugs for children；strengthen the publicity and education on rational drug use for children and popularize the knowledge of safe drug use of OTC drugs for children；give full play to the guiding role of pharmacists and pay attention to the medication guidance of parents.

Investigation Study on Family Self-medication Behavior of Residents in Gansu Province Based on PRECEDE- PROCEED Model / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE：To promote rational use of OTC in the family ，and to provide reference for the formulation of related policy by health administration department. METHODS ：By stratified cluster sampling method ，using residents of 4 cities from Gansu province as objects ，face-to-face questionnaire household survey was conducted in Jan. 2019. The general information of the residents and their family self-medication behaviors were collected ，and the influential factors [tendency factors （including cognition of OTC and attitude towards self-medication ），contributing factors and strengthening factors ，and odds ratio （OR）was used to study the correlation between factors and results] of self-medication behaviors were analyzed by PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Epi Data 3.10 software was used to establish database ，and SPSS 16.0 software was adopted to analyze the family self-medication behavior of residents statistically. RESULTS ：A total of 3 600 questionnaires were sent out ，and 3 111 valid questionnaires were recovered ，with an effective recovery rate of 86.4％. 81.8％（2 541/3 106）of the respondents had self- medication behavior in the past 1 year. The results of binary Logistic regression and χ2 test showed that female residents ，irregular daily life ， no chronic disease ，low monthly family income ，new rural cooperative medical care and urban residents ’medical insurance were more inclined to self-medication. In the tendency factors ，residents who knew that OTC could be purchased in the pharmacy without the doctor ’s prescription （OR＝1.322）， Δ 基金项目 ：国家自然科学基金资助项目 （No.41405108， No.21472077） drug package with OTC logo （OR＝1.397）and the Chinese ＊讲师，硕士。研究方向：药物新制剂、新剂型、新技术。E-mail： herbal medicine also had toxic side effects （OR＝1.750），the 410843130@qq.com possibility of self-medication was greater ；the residents who # 通信作者：教授，博士。研究方向：药物活性分子的设计与合 seldom cleaned the family medicine box （OR＝0.462），quick 成。E-mail：wangshh@lzu.edu.cn and effective drugs （OR＝0.670） and ADR （OR＝0.688） 中国药房 2020年第31卷第11期 China Pharmacy 2020Vol. 31 No. 11 ·1377· were the factors that prevent the occurrence of se lf-medication behavior ，while low drug price （OR＝5.298）was the tendency factor of self-medication behavior. In the contributing factors ，the incidence of self-medication of residents with regular drugs in their home was 2.997 times higher than that those without reserves ；the convenience of self-medication （OR＝1.376），the proximity of drugstores to home （OR＝1.680），the credibility of drug quality （OR＝1.355） had a facilitating effect on the occurrence of self-medication. In the strengthening factors ，the suggestions of relatives and friends （OR＝3.388），books， newspapers and TV network advertisements （OR＝2.043）had a strengthening effect on the occurrence of self-medication. The above factors had a significant effect on the residents ’self-medication（P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS ：The family self-medication behavior of residents in Gansu province is common. The residents with higher cognitive level tend to self-medication ；the lower the drug price ，the more likely the self-medication behavior will occur. The factors contributing to the occurrence of self-medication are the regular drugs at home ，the proximity of drugstores to home ，and the credibility of drug quality. The suggestions of relatives and friends，online advertising and other factors are the strengthening factors of the occurrence of self-medication behavior.

Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practice among interns about over the counter drugs in a tertiary care hospital in India

Background: Drugs that are dispensed against a valid prescription issued to a patient by a registered medical practitioner are known as 損rescription-only drugs�. In India, they have been regulated under schedule H, H1, G, and X of the Drugs and Rules (1945). The drugs which are not included in the list of 損rescription-only drugs� are considered to be over-the-counter drugs (OTC). There is no provision for an OTC drug schedule in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, and these drugs have higher chances of misuse or abuse. This study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practice among medical interns about OTC drugs in a tertiary care hospital in India.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, which was conducted at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, from March 2018 to September 2018. A pre-validated questionnaire consisting of 24 questions to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice was administered to 80 medical interns chosen by simple randomization, out of which 14 questions were related to knowledge, 6 related to attitude and 4 related to the practice. The participants were provided 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The data recorded were analyzed using Microsoft Excel.Results: There were some gaps in the knowledge, attitude and practice among the medical interns about OTC medications.Conclusions: There is a need for special emphasis on the MBBS curriculum about the use of OTC drugs.

A self-medicating scale and questionnaire based drug use survey and the effect of educational intervention among healthcare professional students

Background: Due to an array of reasons like easy accessibility and awareness about the available drugs, self-medication has steeply increased the already existent drug misuse. As the health professional students are exposed to all the information of drugs, it would be worthwhile to survey if this knowledge is misused to self-medicate. The present study was aimed at determining the impact of educational intervention on the prevalent attitudes and pattern of self-medication among medical, dental and nursing students as they constitute a vulnerable group for such practices.Methods: A total of 360 health professional students participated in the study. A validated questionnaire and self-medication scale (SMS) were used for the survey, before and after the educational workshop.Results: Of the 360 students 70% were females. 93.89% reported practicing self-medication, which reduced to 78.63% after the educational workshops. Average number of self-medication encounters before the workshop was 4.03±0.30. Analgesics were most commonly used. The modified SMS scores were significantly reduced (p<0.0001) after interventional workshops indicating that the enhanced knowledge, increased the reluctance to self-medicate and make students think twice before self-medicating so as to reduce such harmful, casual drug use habits. Educational workshops statistically (p<0.0001) enhanced the participants knowledge of ADRs, OTC drugs, expiry date, package inserts etc. 77.78% nursing students were habituated to at least one drug which was significantly higher (?2=20.45, p<0.0001) than that of medical and dental students taken together.Conclusions: Educational intervention reduces the evil of self-medication and enhances safe drug use habits among healthcare professional students.

SWOT Analysis and Countermeasures of OTC Drugs Sold by Online Pharmacies in China / 中国药师

Objective:To comprehensively analyze the situation of OTC sold by online pharmacies and put forward some corre-sponding countermeasures so as to provide reference for online pharmacies selling OTC drugs. Methods:The SWOT method was used to analyze the advantages, disadvantages, opportunity and challenges of online pharmacies selling OTC drugs and a conclusion was ob-tained. Results:The share of OTC drugs sold by online pharmacies was gradually raised, and online pharmacies are becoming the main force of the whole pharmacies. Although online pharmacies quickly seized the OTC drugs market, while the development is facing the complex market environment and unprecedented challenges. Conclusion: Although online pharmacies have some difficulties, but the sale of non-prescription drugs online pharmacies can use the traditional marketing theory and the combination of modern business model to find a strategy belonging to the development of the industry, it will be a tendency that more and more consumers buy the OTC in the online pharmacies.

SWOT Analysis and Countermeasures of OTC Drugs Sold by Online Pharmacies in China / 中国药师

Objective:To comprehensively analyze the situation of OTC sold by online pharmacies and put forward some corre-sponding countermeasures so as to provide reference for online pharmacies selling OTC drugs. Methods:The SWOT method was used to analyze the advantages, disadvantages, opportunity and challenges of online pharmacies selling OTC drugs and a conclusion was ob-tained. Results:The share of OTC drugs sold by online pharmacies was gradually raised, and online pharmacies are becoming the main force of the whole pharmacies. Although online pharmacies quickly seized the OTC drugs market, while the development is facing the complex market environment and unprecedented challenges. Conclusion: Although online pharmacies have some difficulties, but the sale of non-prescription drugs online pharmacies can use the traditional marketing theory and the combination of modern business model to find a strategy belonging to the development of the industry, it will be a tendency that more and more consumers buy the OTC in the online pharmacies.

A Study on the Predictors of Functional Status and the Overuse of OTC Medications among Elderly Population in a Sub-Urban Region of North Bengal.

Background: Functional status can be conceptualized as an individual’s ability to manage activities related to personal self-care and self-maintenance. Functional status assessment is fundamental aspect of geriatric examination especially in the context of over the counter (OTC) medications. This assessment helps clinicians and policymakers to design and implement interventions that help elderly to live safely and independently. The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of limitation in activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) among elderly population. The secondary objective was to identify the use of OTC medications according to the therapeutic indications among them. Methods: A total of 200 community dwelling elderly persons residing in Sushrutanagar of North Bengal were interviewed using valid and reliable functional assessment scales namely Katz ADL and Lawton and Brody IADL. Statistical procedures for the analyses included descriptive ADL and IADL activity limitation was 15 % (30/200) and 85 % (170/200), respectively. Results: The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that advancing age (70 years and above), poor self-rated health and ailments namely musculoskeletal problems, cardiovascular diseases and cataract significantly predict functional limitation. 70% of the subjects consumed analgesics and 60% the antacids as OTC medications. Conclusion: With advancing age, various co-morbidities starts creeping up and the study subjects used the OTC medications to counteract the associated functional limitations as evident from this study. Cataract surgeries patients should be identified and operated upon so as to improve visual functioning and thus their functional ability. Further, factors affecting the use of OTC drugs in elderly subjects need further research.

Status of Self-Medication with OTC Drugs by International Students / 医薬品情報学

<b>Objective: </b>Along with the globalization of the Japanese economy, the number of international students in Japan has gradually increased.  Under these circumstances, international students to visit pharmacies for self-medication are expected to increase.  Thus, we carried out a questionnaire survey on international students conducting self-medication using non-prescription drugs, and examined its problem.<br><b>Method: </b>To clarify the status of self-medication using OTC drugs by students studying abroad, multiple-choice and free description-style questionnaire sheets written in Japanese or English were distributed to 30 international students based in Kobe City.  The sheets were independently completed by the students, excluding those who had difficulty in sufficiently comprehending the questions and required the researcher’s oral explanations for assistance.<br><b>Result: </b>While 90.0% of the respondents answered that they occasionally use non-prescription drugs in their own countries, only 60.0% answered that they had experience of purchasing the drugs in Japan.  When purchasing OTC drugs, 15.2% faced <difficulty in reading> instructions printed on their packages.  While 30.0% regarded <pharmacists’ advice> as important to purchase appropriate drugs in their home countries, only 23.3% sought such advice in Japan.<br><b>Conclusion: </b>These results revealed a tendency for international students to purchase OTC drugs following pharmacists’ advice less frequently in Japan than in their home countries despite their literacy difficulties.  In the future, we hope to examine issues such as possible active communication by pharmacists and the drugstore structure, so as to promote self-medication through purchasing drugs at Japanese pharmacies.  As a result, we hope to contribute to making Japanese pharmacies more foreign user-friendly in a real sense.

Prevalence and Pattern of Self-medication Practices in Rural Area of Barabanki.

Background: The use of self-medication is highly prevalent in the community. Self-medication can be defined as obtaining and consuming one (or more) drug(s) without the advice of a physician either for diagnosis, prescription or surveillance of treatment. Aims and objectives: To study the prevalence and pattern of self-medication practices in rural area of Barabanki. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in rural area of Barabanki to assess the knowledge, awareness and perception of self-medication practices by house-to-house survey during the period of October 2013 to March 2014. Results: Out of 235 participants enrolled, 168 responded (71.5%). A total of 67 (28.5%) participants were excluded in accordance with the exclusion criteria like incomplete information and not using self-medication. Out of 168 respondents, 117 (69.6%) reported self-medication within 1 year of recall period. Most common conditions/symptoms for self-medication in students were fever (72.6%), pain (64.3%) and respiratory symptoms (57.1%), followed by infections, headache and diarrhea, etc. Self-medication was the most common category of drugs used by all the participants except highly educated who used drugs prescribed by physician. Conclusion: Self-medication is an alarming sign for society.

Investigation of Consumer Attitudes, Intentions and Brand Loyal Behavior on the OTC Drugs in Bangladesh.

Aims: To investigate the consumers’ attitudes and intentions to exhibit brand loyal behavior of Bangladeshi consumer on over the counter (OTC) drugs. Study Design: A cross- sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: Consumers from the five major hospitals (Dhaka, Bangladesh) had been surveyed between January 2012 and June 2012. Methodology: The study was conducted among 100 OTC consumers in Bangladesh. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys and personal interviews. Results: The experimental data suggest that direct experience with the product, price range and brand reliance are important determinants of repetitive purchase behavior on OTC drugs. Cost sensitivity had a vital effect on intention to further purchase (r = .02, p =0.05). Moreover, earlier experience with the brand was critical in determining trustworthiness, beliefs, price sensitivity and purchase behavior. The behaviors of OTC consumers are influenced by a different set of factors. Previous experience and price sensitivity is dependent (Chi square = 31.603; p = 0.01. Furthermore, medical experience and buying an OTC product is dependent and the result were also found significant (Chi square = 32.292; p = 0.01). Conclusion: Present study shows that branding and prior experience remains the major influences to buy an OTC drug in Bangladesh.

The irrational fixed dose combinations in the Indian drug market: an evaluation of prescribing pattern using WHO guidelines.

Background: Evaluation of the pattern of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) prescribing amongst the practitioners in a tertiary care hospital in Central India. Methods: Nine hundred and ninety four prescriptions, containing 639 FDCs were scrutinized in the tertiary care hospital. After excluding the total and the interdepartmental repetitions, the numbers of FDCs were 278, which were considered for final analysis. Inclusion criteria were FDCs from the major out-patient department (OPD) of the tertiary care hospital from January 2011 to December 2011. FDCs from the wards, casualty, infectious disease unit, intensive cardiac care unit (ICCU), tuberculosis and chest and HIV unit were excluded from the study. FDCs were analysed for the different pattern of prescribing and rationalism. Results were expressed as percentages. Results: Out of 639 FDCs, the most commonly prescribed FDCs were B complex (12.20%), pantoprazole plus domperidone (9.55%) and amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid (7.35%). Seventy percent of the FDCs were prescribed to the age group of 21-60 years. The FDCs were maximum from the department of medicine (25.59%), followed by surgery (15.47%) and ENT 13.69%. Out of 278 FDCs, only 5.4% were rational, and rest of the FDCs were irrational. Ninety five percent of all FDCs were brand names. The physicians were unaware of the active pharmacological ingredients (APIs) of 20.86% FDCs. Ninety two percent FDCs were available as over the counter (OTCs). Forty eight percent FDCs were costing from Rs. 0-50. There were 2.87% FDCs whose price was above Rs. 500. Conclusions: Irrational FDCs are prescribed by all the departments. Physicians were ignorant about the essential drugs and FDCs. Patients didn’t have access to rational medicines. Therefore, physicians and regulators should be alerted in time. Regulatory actions or government laws should be made mandatory. Availability and access to 348 essential medicines for basic health care should be the priority of the government. Implementation of central drug standard control organisations (CDSCO) guidelines on industries for manufacture of FDCs must be made compulsory.

Prevalence, pattern and perceptions of self-medication in medical students.

Background: The use of self-medication is highly prevalent in the community more so amongst the medical students. Self-medication can be defined as the use of drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms, or the intermittent or continued use of a prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent disease or symptoms. Aims and Objectives: To study the prevalence and pattern of use of self-medication among medical students from first year to internship. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out among under graduate medical students including interns of Smt. NHL Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad during the period of March 2010 to May 2010. Results: Out of 747 students and interns enrolled, 685 responded (91.7%). Out of 685 respondents 564 (82.3%) reported self-medication within one year of recall period. Most common conditions/symptoms for self-medication in students were fever (72.7%), headache (69.1%), upper respiratory tract infections (64.1%) followed by others like body-ache, abdominal pain, diarrhoea etc. Over the counter drugs (84.2%) was the most common category of drugs used by all the students except first year students who used prescription only drugs more frequently (48.5%). Herbal and Ayurvedic drugs were also used as self-medication (17.8%); most frequently by the first year students (22.7%). Conclusion: The pattern of self-medication practice changes with time and advancement of knowledge.

Corrected QT Interval Differences from Intoxication by Over The Counter Versus Prescription Hypnotics

PURPOSE: This study analyzed QTc prolongation in patients intoxicated from over the counter (OTC) hypnotics compared with prescription hypnotics. METHODS: The medical records of intoxicated patients presented to four emergency centers from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. The records of hypnotics overdose patients were selected and investigated for several features: general characteristics, vital signs, past history, ECG findings, treatment methods, ED stay time, drug category and amount, and final results. RESULTS: There were 134 patient cases of OTC hypnotic intoxication (36.9+/-15.1yrs, M:F=37:97), and 270 patient cases of prescription hypnotic intoxication (47.9+/-18.1yrs, M:F=58:212). The ECG QTc upon emergency center admission was 468.4+/-34.8 msec in the OTC hypnotic intoxication group and 449.48+/-26.2 msec in the prescription hypnotic intoxication group (p<0.05). QTc prolongation was noted in 81.3% of patients in the OTC hypnotic intoxication group and 64.1% of patients in the prescription hypnotic intoxication group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: ECG QTc prolongation was more common from OTC hypnotic intoxication than prescription hypnotics. Close monitoring is therefore recommended for patients who have ingested and overdosed from OTC hypnotics to prevent potentially lethal cardiac toxicity.

Análise das propagandas dos medicamentos isentos de prescrição veiculadas em revistas para prescritores na área médica / Analysis of advertisements for OTC drugs aimed at prescribers in the medical

O presente artigo apresenta uma análise da qualidade das propagandas de medicamentos isentos de prescrição destinadas à classe médica, baseado na nova RDC no 96, de 17 de dezembro de 2008. Para análise coletou-se 16 fascículos da Revista Brasileira de Medicina (RBM) a partir de agosto 2009 a dezembro de 2010. Para averiguação da qualidade, elaborou-se um questionário dividido em três partes. Ao todo 160 peças publicitárias foram encontradas, em que 27 delas eram referentes aos medicamentos isentos de prescrição, contemplando nove indústrias farmacêuticas. Observou-se que nenhuma das peças publicitárias cumpriu na íntegra as novas regras exigidas na legislação vigente (RDC 96/08), apresentando infrações desde identificação da mesma até as proibições de figuras humanas e mensagens subjetivas. Portanto, concluiu-se que: há necessidade de implantação de um instrumento mais efetivo de fiscalização, a fim de melhorar à qualidade das propagandas para poderem ser usadas como fonte fidedigna de informação e atualização aos prescritores.

This article presents an analysis of the quality of advertisements for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs addressed to the medical profession, based on the new Anvisa resolution RDC 96 (17/12/2008). For this analysis, 16 volumes of the Brazilian Journal of Medicine (RBM) were collected, from August 2009 to December 2010. To investigate the quality of the adverts, we prepared a questionnaire divided into three parts. In total, 160 advertisements were found, of which 27 were related to drugs exempt from prescription, from 9 laboratories. It was observed that none of the advertisements complied fully with the new rules, as required by legislation (RDC 96/08), with violations ranging from identification of the advert to prohibitions of human figures and subjective messages. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a need to implement more effective monitoring, so as to improve the quality of the adverts, so they can be used as a reliable source of information and update by prescribers.

International Experience in the Management of OTC Drugs' Reimbursement / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE: To provide information about the reforming basic insurance drug list in China, especially in Shanghai for reference.METHODS: To introduce development of drug classified management in China and compare different experiences in the management of OTC drugs' reimbursement in Sweden, Germany, Netherlands and Fenland .RESULTS & CONCLUSION: The inclusion criteria of OTC drugs' reimbursement must be identified.OTC drugs within the insurance drug list should be equated with Rx drugs and those out of the insurance drug list should be fixed with favourable prices.