Labelling patterns and patient knowledge about dispensed medications in a General Outpatient Clinic at Mulago National Referral Hospital.

Abstract

Background: A good medicine label gives patients appropriate information that they need to use their medicines correctly. Better patient knowledge about dispensed medicines improves compliance and maximizes the effectiveness of therapy. It is, however, common to see medicines dispensed without labels, with inadequate or illegible labels in healthcare facilities in Uganda. In addition, poor patient teaching about dispensed medications seems common. Aim of the study: To investigate the labelling patterns and determine the levels of patient knowledge about medications dispensed at the general Outpatient clinic, Mulago National Referral Hospital. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using a quantitative approach. We examined labelling patterns using 7 dispensing fields adapted from the ministry of health labelling guidelines. We also investigated patient knowledge in an exit interview using 5 items adapted from the ministry of health patient teaching guidelines. Results: A total of 131 participants were enrolled in the study. Regarding labeling, most of the medications had the dose (87%) and the name of the medication (85.5%), while no medication had the name of the patient and the date of dispensing. Overall, all medications had inadequate labels. Regarding patient knowledge, most participants knew the dose (96.2%), frequency (97.7%) and duration of treatment (79.4%). Overall, only 26% of patients had adequate knowledge about dispensed medications. Finally, no predictor was statistically associated with patient knowledge about dispensed medications. Conclusions and recommendations: All medications investigated in this study had inadequate labels. In addition, only 26 % of the participants examined had adequate knowledge about dispensed medications. These figures are very low as recommended by the world health organization and the ministry of health. Therefore, healthcare workers, MNRH, and the ministry of health should employ measures to increase the labelling patterns and patient knowledge about dispensed medications. Finally, no predictor variable was statistically associated with patient knowledge about dispensed medications.