The implementation of the prescription and OTC drug management system has greatly facilitated the public to self-medicate and deal with minor illnesses and discomforts that occur in daily life. At the same time, the popularity of OTC has promoted the renewal of people’s concept of healthcare, raised public awareness of self-care and saved a large amount of social public resources. However, people often still have the following misconceptions in the application of OTC drugs. (1) OTC without toxic side effects Although OTC puts safety in the first place, it does not mean that there are no adverse reactions in the process of use. Even commonly used drugs like aspirin, which are generally recognized as relatively safe, can cause poisoning and even death. And with the increase in OTC, the scope of OTC use by consumers and the increase in dosage, the chance of adverse drug effects and drug interaction hazards will also increase. (2) Imitate other people’s medication Some people feel unwell and feel that their symptoms are similar to others, so they imitate other people’s medication, ignoring the fact that many diseases can have similar symptoms and that there is a possibility of multiple symptoms appearing at the same time in the same disease, and that even if the disease is the same, there are individual differences and different triggering factors between people. In addition, it should also be noted that the same drug can have different effects on different patients. Therefore, OTC should be used scientifically according to the disease and the person in order to achieve the expected therapeutic effect. (3) Abuse of OTCs Because of the limitations of consumers’ medical knowledge, it is more common to use inappropriate OTCs due to self-diagnostic errors. Abuse of OTC can conceal other diseases or aggravate the condition, especially antipyretic and analgesic drugs, which, if used improperly, can conceal underlying infectious or other diseases and delay or aggravate the condition. (4) The phenomenon of “old problems” Some people judge themselves to be “old problems” based on their self-perceived discomfort or individual obvious signs, and then use a certain drug they used in the past without thinking about it. Such repeated use of a drug will cause some unexpected damage to the organism. For example, the long-term use of a drug may produce drug resistance or some pharmacogenic diseases. (5) Repeated use of drugs Some patients in the process of OTC applications, often a variety of drugs, in fact, some drugs contain the same ingredients, a variety of drugs and will make the dose of a drug is too large, causing damage to the body. For example, many drugs for cold and flu contain paracetamol, and repeated use of paracetamol can cause liver damage due to overdose. (6) randomly increase or decrease the amount of medication some patients can not be on time quantitative medication, the course of treatment is not divided into length, forget to take, omit to take, the phenomenon of chaos occurs. The reasons for this are: some patients forget to take the medication because they are busy at work or for other reasons; some patients do not want to take the medication when their condition has slightly improved and their discomfort is obviously reduced; some patients are eager to cure the disease and take the medication indiscriminately, increasing the dose arbitrarily or changing the variety frequently within a short period of time. The treatment will be difficult. Some doctors and patients have the mentality that it is difficult to diagnose a disease for a while and take multiple drugs, thinking that they can achieve both prevention and treatment, but in fact the combination of multiple drugs without indications will disrupt the normal defense function of the body, easily cause drug-drug, drug-organism interaction, the incidence of adverse reactions significantly higher, and even produce some complications to aggravate the disease. Sometimes it will cover up the disease and delay the diagnosis and treatment. (8) Bulk purchase of OTC Some consumer consumers buy OTC in large quantities during pharmacy promotions, as a family reserve, which is very inappropriate. Because drugs have a certain shelf life, too much stockpiling often leads to expiration, which is not only uneconomical but also a waste of resources. As a family reserve, you must buy the right amount of drugs, organize them regularly, and discard expired and spoiled drugs in time. (9) OTC as a health product Vitamin E, vitamin C is an antioxidant, which has the effect of improving immunity, anti-aging, etc. Some people take it as a health product in large doses for a long time. In fact, the long-term use of large doses of vitamin E can not only improve immunity, but also reduce immunity, and can cause thrombophlebitis, pulmonary embolism, lower limb edema, and elevated serum cholesterol. And long-term high-dose application of vitamin C can lead to hemolysis, which can be fatal in severe cases. In addition, some people like to take some long-term throat-clearing tablets to clean the mouth and eliminate bad taste. In fact, most of the tablets contain antibacterial ingredients, long-term application, will make the oral resistance to reduce, so that oral ulcers or infection. (10) Family drugs are not used for a long time Some people for emergency use, always buy more OTC as a family back-up drugs for occasional use. Due to the lack of basic knowledge of drugs and the limitations of home storage conditions, patients can not be stored and kept according to the characteristics of drugs, some drugs caused by moisture, mold, expired and waste. Therefore, it is not advisable to keep more and longer medicines for home use. In accordance with the physical and chemical properties of drugs, we should take appropriate measures such as low temperature, humidity, light avoidance and airtightness, and we should also check them frequently and replace them in time.