Dry and productive coughs are common complaints experienced by the community and are generally managed through self-medication in pharmacies. In self-medication practices, pharmaceutical personnel play an important role in providing accurate and safe drug information to patients. Differences in educational level and length of work experience are assumed to influence the knowledge level of pharmaceutical personnel in distinguishing types of cough and selecting appropriate medications. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the effect of educational level and work experience on the knowledge level of pharmaceutical personnel regarding self-medication of dry and productive coughs.
This study was an observational analytic study with a cross-sectional design. The subjects were pharmaceutical personnel working in pharmacies, with a total of 85 respondents. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that had been tested for validity and reliability. Data analysis was conducted descriptively to describe respondents’ characteristics and knowledge levels, and analytically to determine the effect of educational level and work experience on knowledge levels using appropriate statistical tests based on data distribution.
The results showed that, in general, the knowledge level of pharmaceutical personnel regarding self-medication for dry and productive coughs was in the good category (88.24%). Statistical analysis indicated that education level and work experience did not have a significant effect on knowledge levels among pharmaceutical personnel (p > 0.05). However, descriptively, pharmaceutical personnel with an apothecary educational background and more than five years of work experience tended to have higher mean rank knowledge scores compared to other groups(90,5%). The conclusion of this study is that education level and work experience do not significantly affect the knowledge of pharmaceutical personnel regarding self-medication for cough.