Practices of community pharmacists towards COVID-19 treatment in Vietnam: a simulated client study

<title>Abstract</title> Background Recent reports have raised concerns about drug overuse and misuse in self-medication practices for COVID-19 treatment. This study was aimed to assess the availability and appropriateness of medication dispensing provided by community pharmacists to COVID-19 patients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Methods The simulated client method was used to examine 102 randomly selected community pharmacies from 13 central districts of Ho Chi Minh City between May 2022 and July 2022. Each pharmacy was visited by 2 simulated clients asking to buy medications for a relative with mild COVID-19 symptoms. Characteristics of pharmacies and pharmacists along with medications dispensed were recorded. Factors associated with appropriate medication transaction were explored using the Bayesian Model Averaging method. Results Of 102 enrolled community pharmacies, 63 (61.8%) were independent. Most encountered pharmacists were female (90.2%) and were not pharmacists-in-charge (82%). Of 98 transactions with identified medications, cough medicines (93.88%), antipyretics (88.78%), and dietary supplements (80.61%) were frequently dispensed. Moreover, medications dispensed without a medical prescription such as antibiotics (59.18%), corticosteroids (60.20%) and antivirals (7.14%), were also recorded. Additionally, the type of a pharmacy was significantly associated with the practice of dispensing antibiotics (OR = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.12–0.69) Conclusions This study recorded high rates of antibiotics and corticosteroids for COVID-19 mild symptoms dispensed without a prescription. Further research is warranted to improve practices of community pharmacists towards COVID-19 treatment