Consumers are confident managing minor ailments through self-care, often self-medicating\nfrom a range of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines available from community pharmacies.\nTo minimise risks, pharmacy personnel endeavour to engage in a consultation when consumers\npresent with OTC enquiries however they find consumers resistant. The aim was to determine\nstakeholder perspectives regarding barriers and facilitators for information exchange during OTC\nconsultations in community pharmacies and to understand the elicited themes in behavioural terms.\nFocus groups were undertaken with community pharmacist, pharmacy assistant and consumer\nparticipants. Independent duplicate analysis of transcription data was conducted using inductive\nand framework methods. Eight focus groups involving 60 participants were conducted. Themes that\nemerged indicated consumers did not understand pharmacists� professional role, they were less likely\nto exchange information if asking for a specific product than if asking about symptom treatment,\nand they wanted privacy. Consumers were confident to self-diagnose and did not understand OTC\nmedicine risks. Pharmacy personnel felt a duty of care to ensure consumer safety, and that with\nexperience communication skills developed to better engage consumers in consultations. They also\nidentified the need for privacy. Consumers need education about community pharmacists� role and\nresponsibilities to motivate them to engage in OTC consultations. They also require privacy when\ndoing so.
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