Oral emergency contraception practices of community pharmacies: a mystery caller study in the capital of Germany, Berlin.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In Germany, oral emergency contraception (EC) with the active ingredients levonorgestrel (LNG) and ulipristal acetate (UPA) is available as over-the-counter (OTC) medicine only from community pharmacies (CPs). Because of the window of effect, which is limited to only a few days, CPs have a great responsibility to provide rapid and unimpeded access, while also ensuring "adequate" counseling. The aim was-for the first time in Europe and thus also in Germany for the methodology used in this study-to investigate immediate availability, pricing, and aspects of counseling.

Methods

Covert mystery calls were conducted in a random sample of CPs stratified by districts in the German capital Berlin. Each of the 263 CPs included was called once at random by one of two trained

SUBMITTER: Lungfiel G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10215052 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature