Over-the-counter counseling

Over-the-counter counseling (or OTC Counseling) refers to a pharmacist's full working knowledge of Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs as well as initiating an assessment of the patient's self-care concerns and drug-related needs.

A pharmacist can use both open-ended questions (that start with words who, what, how, why or where) as well as close-ended questions (that start with words will, can, do or did) which are to be used only if the former do not get the appropriate response in order to obtain relevant information about a patient's potential needs for treatment or potential drug-therapy problems. OTC counseling patients about self-care and non-prescription drugs does not follow the same format as for prescription drugs. What is also important is that a pharmacist should assess whether the patient has any underlying conditions as to avoid any drug-release interactions.

Sources

Ferreri Stephanie. Out From Behind the Bench: Quick and Effective OTC Counseling, 2004

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