From April 2009 onwards,the over-the-counter (OTC) drug sales system will be deregulated in accordance with the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.There will be two major changes.As the first one,the risk classification of OTC drugs will comprise 3 classes and as the second,new qualifications for the registration of drug sellers will be established.The aims of this study were to investigate the views of pharmacy students concerning the revision of the OTC drug sales system and to reflect the results obtained in pharmaceutical education programs.To do this,small group discussion (SGD) was included in the college class program for 82 undergraduate students in the 3rd year of a 4-year course at Chiba University and they were given 2 questionnaires-one before the SGD and one after it.The questionnaire found that 95% of the students knew the term“OTC drugs”and 73% thought that such drugs were easy to obtain.Further,while 72% agreed with the new risk classification for OTC drugs,52% opposed the establishment of new qualifications for the registration of drug sellers.Through the SGD,they realized that pharmacists need to acquire a special knowledge of OTC drugs and skill in providing appropriate information on their safe use.Overall,the results suggest that future pharmaceutical education programs need to incorporate training designed to achieve a comprehensive knowledge of drugs and enhance communication skills.
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