How long have the symptoms been present?
How long have the symptoms been present?
Understanding how long a person has had their symptoms can help you decide on what advice to offer, whether it is appropriate to recommend an OTC medicine, or if the customer should be referred to the pharmacist.
Many minor ailments are self-limiting and normally the symptoms will only last a few days. Often customers do not understand how long they should expect symptoms to last. Here are a few examples of conditions you may be asked about with expected duration of symptoms:
Middle ear infection – at least four days
Sore throat – a week
Common cold – one and half weeks
Flu – two weeks
Nasal congestion - two and a half weeks
Cough - up to three weeks
(Source: Treat yourself better)
It is important that you educate customers regarding the expected duration of certain conditions as it helps to manage their expectations and can prevent them from visiting their GP unnecessarily. It is particularly important for customers to understand that some common ailments, such as coughs, colds and flu are caused by viruses and cannot be treated with antibiotics.
These time scales are only a guide and where you are concerned about a customer or the customer has particularly severe or troublesome symptoms they should be referred to the pharmacist.
Always advise customers that if symptoms last longer than expected or do not respond to treatment, they should come back to the pharmacy as it could be a sign of a more serious condition.
The question of “how long have you had the symptoms?” is not always required particularly if a customer is purchasing a preventative treatment such as motion sickness tablets or any nicotine replacement product. So, ensure that you understand why the customer is requesting a specific product.