The symptom mitigation path of mobile community residents: community pharmacy's role.
OBJECTIVES
Most medical conditions that community residents experience are managed in that setting. Often this involves prescription and/or non-prescription medicines and a visit to a community pharmacy. This study explores actions taken by mobile community residents to seek relief from their symptoms and pharmacy's role in symptom mitigation.


METHODS
Five focus group discussions (n=30) of Finnish citizens living at least part of the year in Southern Spain were conducted. Both inductive and deductive methods were employed.


RESULTS
Participants identified community pharmacies as a critical element of their symptom mitigation path--both because of easy access and free, fast service. According to participants' reports, both pharmacists and sales clerks (1) assumed responsibility for their symptoms and medications, (2) participated in diagnosing conditions and in prescription renewals, (3) both prescription and non-prescription medicines were dispensed and (4) some pharmacies dispensed prescription medications without a valid prescription. Many pharmacies offered medication counselling, but language barriers sometimes forced medicine users to rely on other Finns and written patient information leaflets.


CONCLUSIONS
Among mobile community residents, the pharmacy has a trusted role in managing symptoms and medications. However, several medication safety risks are present in the current pharmacy practice: unlicensed sales clerks participate in medication dispensing, prescription medicines may be sold without a prescription, and medication counselling is variable.