Tài liệu Báo cáo y học: "Use of chinese and western over-the-counter medications in Hong Kong"

In Hong Kong, community pharmacists work independently from medical doctors who often prescribe and dispense medications in a clinical setting. On the other hand, patients often seek first line treatment from com munity pharmacists [1]. Community pharmacists have long been an underutilized part of the human resources in primary care [2,3] as a result of the interplay between demand, supply and organization factors [4]. In Hong Kong, the use of over the counter (OTC) medications is popular in the local population. Previous studies found that 65% of the respondents used OTC medications [5] and that 32.9% of outpatients had taken OTC two weeks prior to their visits [6]. The majority of community pharmacists in Hong Kong admitted that they were most frequently asked about OTC [7].