Ohio Pharmacists’ Perceptions of Over-the-Counter Drug Advertising

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are one of the most important and easily available public health aids for the treatment of common conditions or symptomatic relief. Although there are different means of providing the consumers with drug information, advertising seems to be one of the best ways and a powerful method of broadcasting information. Numerous changes have occurred in pharmaceutical advertising in recent times. This research is conducted with the intention of exploring the advertising of OTC drugs from the point of view of pharmacists.The purpose of this study was to evaluate various aspects of pharmacists’ perceptions of over the counter drug advertising. This was a cross sectional exploratory study design. Pharmacists were provided with a survey to identify their perceptions about OTC drug advertising. Data was obtained from 292 pharmacists licensed in the state of Ohio, registered under the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, practicing within the state of Ohio and working in a community pharmacy setting.Construct validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested using Rasch measurements. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square Tests for Independence were generated to study the relationship between measures for each of the research questions and the demographics & miscellaneous variables.A large number of the surveyed pharmacists (81.5%) were found to have negative attitude towards OTC drug advertising. A majority of the pharmacists (84%) believed that it has a great effect on the patients and the patients are highly influenced by OTC drug advertisements (90%). However, 91% of the pharmacists agreed that their choice of the drugs was not impacted much. An equal distribution was seen among pharmacists who thought over-the-counter drug advertising improves and those who thought that it does not improve patient-pharmacist interactions. Results of the chi-square test indicated a significant difference between the impact of over-the-counter drug advertising on pharmacists’ choice of drugsbased on gender X2(1, N = 292) = 12.58, p < .01 and location of the pharmacy X2(2, N = 292) = 11.63, p = 0.003.Results show that nonprescription drug advertisements are falling short in their attempts to attract the pharmacists. Pharmacists feel that the appropriateness and effectiveness of currently seen over-the-counter drugs advertisement are less than optimal and that advertisements need to focus on conveying quality information to the pharmacists and the patients rather than the promotional aspects.