Information and symptoms assessment in community pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic: An audit study in Colombia

Tatiana Andia, César Mantilla, Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes, Leonel Criado, Juan Sebastián Gómez, Santiago Ortiz, Andrea Quintero, Ferley Rincón and Steffanny Romero
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Tatiana Andia: Department of Social Sciences, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia
Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes: Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Leonel Criado: Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Juan Sebastián Gómez: Department of Social Sciences, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia
Santiago Ortiz: Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Andrea Quintero: Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Ferley Rincón: Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Steffanny Romero: Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Paul Andres Rodriguez Lesmes

Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, 2020, vol. 4, issue S2, 5-14

Abstract: We conducted an audit study with 262 community pharmacies from seven municipalities in the Northeast of Colombia. In the study, a simulated client called and described a list of symptoms experienced by her brother and asked the pharmacist for a recommendation. In our "common" condition, the symptoms were headache, sore throat, and fever. In our COVID condition, we added anosmia (i.e., the loss of smell) as a fourth symptom, allowing better discrimination with respect to other diseases. We find that mentioning anosmia induced a more cautious behavior among pharmacists. The probability that pharmacists recommend registering the case in the dedicated emergency line increased from 19.7 to 32.2 percent, whereas the probability that pharmacists make a prescription decreased from 69.7 to 51.5 percent. The seven selected municipalities were drawn from dengue-endemic and non-endemic areas. Although we hypothesized that experience with symptoms from the common condition would make it harder to provide adequate recommendations in endemic areas, we did not find differences in behavior supporting this hypothesis.

Keywords: anosmia; phone calls; simulated clients; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:beh:jbepv1:v:4:y:2020:i:s2:p:5-14

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