Over-the-counter antibiotic sales in community and online pharmacies, China
Yanhong Gong, Nan Jiang, Zhenyuan Chen, Jing Wang, Jia Zhang, Jie Feng, Zuxun Lu, Xiaoxv Yin
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of and factors associated with dispensing antibiotics without a prescription in online and community pharmacies in China. METHODS: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study of online and community pharmacies in 27 cities and counties in nine provinces in China (selected by multistage sampling) from July 2017 to December 2018. We assessed sale of antibiotics without a prescription and quality of pharmacy services through simulated clients who asked to buy specific antibiotics. We compared the prevalence of sales between online and community pharmacies, and between location and features of community pharmacies. FINDINGS: < 0.001). Most pharmacy staff did not ask for important information from clients before dispensing the antibiotic or provide them with necessary information about the antibiotic. CONCLUSION: Given the high proportion of sales of prescription-only medicines without a prescription, there is a need to strengthen enforcement of regulations, improve public education on antibiotics, train pharmacy staff and consolidate public involvement in antibiotic stewardship in retail pharmacies in China.