Knowledge, attitude and practice of patient medication counseling among drug dispensers in North West Ethiopia

Patient medication counseling on dispensing of medicines should give the patient clear and complete instructions on how to take or use drugs. The way drugs are taken by the patient is often influenced by the way drugs are dispensed and the type of information given during dispensing. The objective of this study was to assess drug dispensers’ knowledge, attitude and practice of patient medication counseling in drug retail outlets of Gondar and Bahir Dar towns. A cross-sectional study was conducted on patient medication counseling by using a self-administered semi-structured questioner. The questionnaire was distributed to dispensers to fill in their home or at their free time and collected in the next day. Data were analyzed using SPSS for windows version 16.0. Forty (62.5%) of the dispensers believe that patient counseling is a shared responsibility of pharmacy professionals and physicians. Only 29.7% of the dispensers always update their knowledge on drugs and their most frequent source of drug information on drugs were leaflets. Forty nine (76.6%) of dispensers respond as they know the formal way and the information included in patient counseling. Lack of adequate knowledge on drugs and up-to-date drug information was major factor that prevent dispensers from counseling patients. Most of the dispensers are not accessible to up-to-date drug informations. The dispensers give less counseling. Lack of knowledge and update drug information was the major barrier of patient medication counseling dispensers faced. Formal education should include patient counseling and continuous training should be given to increase dispensers’ knowledge on patient counseling. Up to date and relevant drug information sources should be given to dispensers.