Assessment of Knowledge on dispensed medicines for management of respiratory tract infections and associated factors among care takers of children under five years at Kawaala health Centre IV

Abstract

Back ground: Medications are an important part of treatment of respiratory infections in addition to other measures to be followed by the patient during the treatment period. A proper understanding of medication instructions and prescriptions by the patient or patient care takers is key in proper management of respiratory infections Methods: A total of 217 participants aged over 18 years old were approached to take part in the study. Systematic sampling was used to select participants that fit the selection criteria and agreed to take part. Participants were interviewed using semi structured questionnaire adapted from Ministry of health Uganda surveillance tool. Patient responses were assessed on their knowledge of dose, name, frequency, storage, side effects and purpose of dispensed drugs. An observation check list was used to assess the quality of the label and data was analysed using R statistical language analytical tool to predict association. Results: Of the 217 participants, 174 (80.18%) had correct recall for dose, 171(78.8%) for frequency 163(75.1%) for name of drug, 171(57.6%) for indication of treatment, 23(10.6%) for side effects and 67(30.9%) for storage of drugs. Overall, only 29 (13.36%) of participants’ responses met the predefined “adequate” level of knowledge of dispensed drug. Level of education was the only predictor of participants’ knowledge of dispensed medication with p-value = 0.01. Conclusion: The overall participants’ knowledge of dispensed drugs is moderate with few participants having satisfactory level of knowledge. Education level was found to be the only predictor among the investigated variables. Therefore, further studies should be done to investigate other external factors that could influence knowledge on dispensed medicines and dispensers should check for understanding before patients leave the dispensing point.