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

Author

Listed:
  • Tatiana Andia

    (Department of Social Sciences, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia)

  • César Mantilla

    (Economics Department, Universidad del Rosario, 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Tatiana Andia & César Mantilla & Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes & Leonel Criado & Juan Sebastián Gómez & Santiago Ortiz & Andrea Quintero & Ferley Rincón & Steffanny Romero, 2020. "Information and symptoms assessment in community pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic: An audit study in Colombia," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S2), pages 5-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:beh:jbepv1:v:4:y:2020:i:s2:p:5-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Michelle Baddeley, 2020. "COVID-19 2020: A year of living dangerously," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S3), pages 5-9, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    anosmia; phone calls; simulated clients; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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