Home / Publications / Featured Publications / Safeguarding Older Adults From Inappropriate Over-The-Counter Medications: The Role of Community Pharmacists

Safeguarding Older Adults From Inappropriate Over-The-Counter Medications: The Role of Community Pharmacists

December 1, 2014

Cite this

Purpose of the Study

To elicit the thought process or mental model that community pharmacists use when making recommendations on over-the-counter (OTC) medications to older adults and to elicit the current practices of community pharmacists in providing information, advice, and counseling to older adults about potentially inappropriate OTC medications.

Design and Methods

Three separate focus groups with pharmacists were conducted with 5 to 8 pharmacists per group. A vignette about an elderly woman seeking an OTC sleep aid was used to elicit information that pharmacists seek to establish when making a recommendation. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed for themes using the initial and focused coding methods of grounded theory.

Results

Community pharmacists’ mental models were characterized by 2 similarities: a similarity in what community pharmacists seek to establish about patients and a similarity in when community pharmacists seek to establish it–the sequence in which they try to learn key details about patients. It was identified that pharmacists gather specific information about the patient’s medication profile, health conditions, characteristics of the problem, and past treatments in order to make a recommendation. Community pharmacists recommended behavioral modifications and seeing their physician prior to recommending an OTC sleep aid, primarily due to medication safety concerns.

Implications

Pharmacists can play a key role in assisting older adults to select and use OTC medications.

Cited by

This article is cited by 14 publications

Alamer, K. A., Holden, R. J., Chui, M. A., Stone, J. A., & Campbell, N. L. (2024). Home medication inventory method to assess over-the-counter (OTC) medication possession and use: A pilot study on the feasibility of in-person and remote modalities with older adults. Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 20(4), 443–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2024.01.005
Chui, M. A., Berbakov, M. E., Gilson, A. M., Morris, A. O., & Stone, J. A. (2022). Effectiveness and sustainment of a tailored over-the-counter medication safety intervention in community pharmacies: A randomized controlled trial. Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 18(11), 3953–3963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2022.06.008
Beck, A., Persaud, N., Tessier, L. A., Grad, R., Kidd, M. R., Klarenbach, S., Korownyk, C., Moore, A., Thombs, B. D., Mangin, D., McCracken, R. K., McDonald, E. G., Sirois, C., Kanji, S., Molnar, F., Nicholls, S. G., Thavorn, K., Bennett, A., Shaver, N., Skidmore, B., … Moher, D. (2022). Interventions to address potentially inappropriate prescriptions and over-the-counter medication use among adults 65 years and older in primary care settings: protocol for a systematic review. Systematic reviews, 11(1), 225. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-02044-w
Rasiah, J., Prorok, J. C., Adekpedjou, R., Barrie, C., Basualdo, C., Burns, R., De Paul, V., Donnelly, C., Doyle, A., Frank, C., Dolsen, S. G., Giguère, A., Hsiung, S., Kim, P., McDonald, E. G., O'Grady, H., Patey, A., Puxty, J., Racey, M., Resin, J., … Muscedere, J. (2022). Enabling Healthy Aging to AVOID Frailty in Community Dwelling Older Canadians. Canadian geriatrics journal : CGJ, 25(2), 202–211. https://doi.org/10.5770/cgj.25.536
Alhwimani, A. K., Aljohani, R. A., & Altulaihi, B. A. (2021). The Use of Over-the-Counter Sleep Aid Containing Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride Among Saudis. Cureus, 13(12), e20622. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.20622
Gilson, A. M., Xiong, K. Z., Stone, J. A., Jacobson, N., & Chui, M. A. (2021). A pharmacy-based intervention to improve safe over-the-counter medication use in older adults. Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 17(3), 578–587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.05.008
Shah, S., Gilson, A. M., Jacobson, N., Reddy, A., Stone, J. A., & Chui, M. A. (2020). Understanding the Factors Influencing Older Adults' Decision-Making about Their Use of Over-The-Counter Medications-A Scenario-Based Approach. Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland), 8(3), 175. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy8030175
Gilson, A. M., Xiong, K. Z., Stone, J. A., Jacobson, N., Phelan, C., Reddy, A., & Chui, M. A. (2020). Improving Patient-Pharmacist Encounters with Over-The-Counter Medications: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study. Innovations in pharmacy, 11(1), 10.24926/iip.v11i1.2295. https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v11i1.2295
Reddy, A., Lester, C. A., Stone, J. A., Holden, R. J., Phelan, C. H., & Chui, M. A. (2019). Applying participatory design to a pharmacy system intervention. Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 15(11), 1358–1367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.11.012
Gilson, A. M., Stone, J. A., Reddy, A., & Chui, M. A. (2019). Exploring how pharmacists engage with patients about over-the-counter medications. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhA, 59(6), 852–856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2019.08.001
Abraham, O., Schleiden, L. J., Brothers, A. L., & Albert, S. M. (2017). Managing sleep problems using non-prescription medications and the role of community pharmacists: older adults' perspectives. The International journal of pharmacy practice, 25(6), 438–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpp.12334
Chui, M. A., Stone, J. A., & Holden, R. J. (2017). Improving over-the-counter medication safety for older adults: A study protocol for a demonstration and dissemination study. Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 13(5), 930–937. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2016.11.006
Abraham, O., Schleiden, L., & Albert, S. M. (2017). Over-the-counter medications containing diphenhydramine and doxylamine used by older adults to improve sleep. International journal of clinical pharmacy, 39(4), 808–817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-017-0467-x
Dalton, K., & Byrne, S. (2017). Role of the pharmacist in reducing healthcare costs: current insights. Integrated pharmacy research & practice, 6, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.2147/IPRP.S108047