Pharmacy Minor Ailment Service Should Span Symptoms and Product Selection

For full health system cost-effectiveness, a community pharmacy’s minor ailment service should include both consultations on patient symptom presentation and oversight of patient-selected products, suggests a study published in BMC Health Services Research.

“Minor ailment services increase patient safety through the appropriate use of nonprescription medication,” researchers wrote, “and through the direct referral of patients to general practitioners.”

The study analyzed the cost-utility of a minor ailment service compared with usual care in 27 community pharmacies in Spain. The cluster-randomized trial included a total 808 patients requesting a nonprescription medication or presenting minor ailments: 323 patients received the minor ailment service intervention and 485 patients received usual care. Patients were contacted by phone 10 days after the consultation, and 423 provided feedback

Health-related quality of life was higher for patients visiting pharmacies with the minor ailment service, although differences between groups at follow up were not statistically significant, according to the study. Patients who received the minor ailment service intervention gained an additional .0003 quality-adjusted life years.

When only patients presenting with symptoms were factored into the analysis, the intervention had a 47.4% probability of cost-effectiveness, the study showed. When considering patients presenting for a direct product request, however, the minor ailment service intervention had a 93.69% probability of cost-effectiveness, making it the dominant strategy.

“The overall findings showed that there is significant potential to adopt a minor ailment service...with an addition of including direct product request so that it has a higher impact on the health system,” researchers wrote. “Minor ailment service may add further economic benefits due to the appropriateness of self-medication with nonprescription medicines.”

Reference:
Amador-Fernández N, Benrimoj SI, García-Mochón L, et al. A cost utility analysis alongside a cluster-randomised trial evaluating a minor ailment service compared to usual care in community pharmacy. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):1253. doi:10.1186/s12913-021-07188-4