Knowledge, attitude, and practice of ‘over-the-counter’ medications among medical and non-medical professionals during COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Background: India is one of the emerging markets for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and offers significant growth potential for the industry. There has been a huge rise in the use of OTC drugs since the beginning of the pandemic for which some major reasons are lack of time, non-availability of prescribers, and hospital exposure during a pandemic. Aim: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of ‘over-the-counter’ medications among medical and non-medical professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Settings and Design: The study was conducted at Bharati Hospital and Research Center, Pune, Maharashtra, India. Materials and Methods: A descriptive observational study was conducted. Statistical Analysis Used Descriptive (mean, percentage, and standard deviation) and inferential (chi-square test) statistics were used. Statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences(SPSS) software version 10.0. Results: Out of 310 samples majority showed poor knowledge (50.65%), high practice (56.13%), and negative attitude (70%) towards the use of OTC drugs. There is a significant association found between age (p-value 0) and health care status (p-value 0) with the level of knowledge. Age group (p-value 0.046) and employee status (p-value 0.00033) showed a significant association with the practice of OTC drugs. Healthcare status showed a significant association (p-value 0.0007) towards attitude toward the use of OTC drugs. Conclusion: Participants reported overall poor knowledge with a negative attitude and adopted the high practice use of OTC drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased awareness about self-medication is important to avoid complications associated with the high practice of OTC medications.