Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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COMMUNITY PHARMACY USERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ACCESSIBILITY, PHARMACIST COMMUNICATION AND SELF-MEDICATION: A QUESTIONNAIRE-BASED STUDY

RAMONA GURILA 1#, RAMONA AMINA POPOVICI 2#, DORIN ANTAL 1, FLAVIU BOB 3, ANDRA TIBERIA PĂCURAR 1,4,5, IASMINA-ALEXANDRA PREDESCU 1,4,5, IOAN SMULTEA 1,4,5, SERGIO LIGA 4, MONICA MARIA ȘUȘAN 6,7*, ALINA ANTON 4,5, SILVIU BRAD ⁸

¹ Doctoral School, “Victor Babeş” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timişoara, Romania
2 Department I-Management and Communication, Faculty of Dental Medicine, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timişoara, Romania
3 Department of Internal Medicine II-Nephrology University Clinic, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timişoara, Romania
4 University Clinic of Toxicology, Drug Industry, Management and Legislation, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timişoara, Romania
5 Research Center for Pharmaco-Toxicological Evaluation, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timișoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timișoara, Romania
6 Department of Internal Medicine, Discipline of Medical Semiology I, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timișoara, Romania
7 Centre for Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timișoara, Romania
8 Department of Radiology, “Victor Babeş” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, 2 Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timişoara, Romania

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This observational, cross-sectional questionnaire study assessed community pharmacy users' perceptions of accessibility, medicine availability, pharmacist communication and self-medication in Timiș County, Romania. Questionnaires were distributed through community pharmacies between 1 and 30 April 2023; 162 were returned and 146 analysed. Content validity was high (S-CVI/Ave = 0.96). Easy pharmacy access was reported by 82.9%, and 78.8% lived within 3 km of a pharmacy, with no urban-rural differences. Evening or weekend access differed significantly by residence (urban 52.0% versus rural 0%; p < 0.001), as did the perceived need for additional pharmacies (0% versus 70.8%; p < 0.001). Medicine unavailability was reported by 19.9%. Pharmacist recommendations were considered helpful by 89.0%, 60.3% reported sufficient counselling time, and 50.7% understood their medicines and administration. Self-treatment without medical recommendation was reported by 61.0%. Urban-rural disparities primarily concerned temporal rather than geographical accessibility.