Importance of the Pharmaceutical Council in the Dispensation of Laxants and Probiotics

The goal of pharmaceutical care is to improve the patient's quality of life, and it must do so by maximising its effectiveness and reducing the risks of the treatment. Therapeutic protocols are an important tool for encouraging the correct use of drugs. The aims of this work are: to analyse the type of patients who visit the pharmacies in the study; to determine the importance of pharmaceutical advice in dispensing; and to identify the most commonly used strains of probiotics and laxatives. A transversal descriptive and observational study was conducted with 500 patients in five pharmacies. The population taking part in the study is predominantly female, aged over 61, of Spanish nationality, actively employed and with middle or higher educational studies. Over 90% of the patients followed the advice of the pharmacist over the advice of their doctors. The most widely used probiotics were Lactobacillus acidophillus and Saccharomyces boulardii for gastrointestinal protection and treatment of diarrhoea. The most commonly used laxatives are bulk-forming and contact laxatives. The pharmacist's opinion is increasingly important in the treatment of pathologies that may be considered as minor. Therapeutic protocols are an aid to correct dispensing.