Right of prescribing and self-medication

Abstract

The pharmacist is uniquely qualified to intervene on the patient's behalf relative to the safe and appropriate use of over the counter (OTC) drugs. Non-prescription drugs contribute significantly to patient well-being and the overall public health if used intelligently and according to specific guidelines. In most societies such as ours much emphasis is placed on individual freedom and so the right of an individual to self-medication cannot be denied. Yet the public must be adequately protected against the abuse and misuse of medicines. In this dissertation the abuse and misuse of medicines was evaluated in order to see if self-medication in Malta was being practiced correctly. A Health Education Leaflet was designed to inform the public more about medicine use and the effectiveness of such a leaflet in improving the public knowledge on medicines was also evaluated. The local scene sadly manifests the lack of an updated OTC list, and at present the formulary is very limited. Thus a 'Pharmacist Recommended List' was proposed from which the pharmacist can recommend and dispense medicines to the public. The pharmacist's feeling about performing a prescribing function was investigated.