ABSTRACT
Background: labeling and knowledge of dispensing drug is important for the patient to identify the contents and to ensure that they have clear and concise information about the use of the dispensed drug. Lack of this may lead the patient to incorrect use, which in turn results in an adverse effect. So the present was undertaken to assess the labeling and patient knowledge of dispensing drugs in Adulala Health Center outpatient pharmacy, Adulala, East Shoa, Ethiopia. Method: A cross sectional, prospective study was done by examining previously prepared a checklist to gather information from each package of dispensing drugs to patients and exit interview done with patients to assess their knowledge of the dispensed drug at Adulala Health Center Outpatient Pharmacy from January 23 to February 7, 2014. The data were analyzed by using statistical software package SPSS 16.0. Results: A total of 302 patients was studied of which majority (62.6%) of them were females and 38.2% of the patients were in the age group of 21-45. All the patients were aware of the dose and a majority (79.06%) of them about frequency. The labeling pattern of dispensing drugs attributes 100% in case of name, strength and expiry of the drug. Patient name was written in only 4.7% of the dispensed drugs. Out of a total 554 dispensed drugs most (46.93%) of them were dispensed for chemotherapeutic to a majority (192) of the patients of 21-45 age groups. Sex has no association with patient knowledge on dosage, frequency, and duration (p-value=0. 423, 0.630, 0.115) respectively. Conclusion: The study depicts that dispensed drugs had poor labeling. Educational level and patient age have a strong association with patient knowledge of dispensing drugs whereas sex has no association with patient knowledge. Dispensing time was short. Not all prescribed medications are dispensed.
ABSTRACT
Self-medication is the selection and use of non-prescription medicines by individuals’ own initiatives to treat self-recognized illnesses or symptoms. It is practiced significantly worldwide even though its type, extent and reasons for its practice may vary. No data is available on the current status of self-medication practices among health sciences students of Ayder campus of Mekelle University (ACMU). Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 307 health sciences students in ACMU from April to June 2011. Pre-tested and validated questionnaires were employed as tools for data collection. Study populations were determined by using two stages stratified random sampling methods. Among 148 reported illnesses prior to the study period, 94(63.50%) were males and 48(36.50%) were females with mean age of 21.5(18-25) years. The prevalence of self-medication in this study was 43.24% with most frequently reported symptom being headache 33(51.56%) followed by cough and common cold 28(44.80%). The two main reasons for self-medication were prior experience 25(39.10%) and mildness of the disease 24(37.50%). Paracetamol 31(48.44%) and NSAIDs 27(42.20%) were the two most frequently consumed medications with drug retail outlets 26(40.63%) as the main source of drugs to practice self-medication. Self-decisions 41(64.00%) followed by family/friends 20(31.65%) were the two most frequently reported source of drug information for self-medication in this study. More than half of the respondents disagreed with the practice of self-medication in the present study. Moreover there were statistically significant differences between respondents who reported practicing self-medication based on gender, specific field of study and study year.