Consumers’ knowledge, attitude and practice of respiratory symptoms self-medication in community pharmacy during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

One of the impacts of contact restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic is the increase in self-medication. This study aims to analyze the consumers' knowledge, attitudes, and practice in self-medication of respiratory system disorders at the community pharmacy in Surabaya during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses a quantitative survey method among 415 participants in 15 pharmacies in Surabaya. The KAP questionnaire as a research instrument was designed based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). In this study, 96.14% of participants had a high category of knowledge, 95.90% of participants had high attitudes, and 70.36% of participants had high practice. As many as 16.39% of participants answered that they had never done a swab examination if symptoms of respiratory tract disorders appeared or after close contact with COVID-19 sufferers. A total of 10.6% of participants answered never to take treatment for the initial symptoms and carry out intensive care if infected with COVID-19. A total of 9.64% of participants answered never to follow the health advice of a health care provider and seek medical care immediately if symptoms occur. The answer "never" to this parameter of alert symptoms in practice revealed a large percentage so the presence of pharmacists in the community to provide pharmaceutical care is very important.