Assessment of counseling practice in medicine retail outlets in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

IntroductionPatient counseling can ideally be providing medication information orally or in written form to patients or their attendants, and it helps to form a concordant approach on encouraging patient involvement in the pharmaceutical care process and to explore patient’s knowledge and understanding. Lack of adequate knowledge on drugs and up-to-date drug information are the major factor that hinders counseling services. This study assessed counseling practice of pharmacy professionals in Mekelle City.MethodsA facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Professionals who volunteered to participate were involved. Self-administered questionnaires were used as data collecting tool to grasp professionals’ practice on patient counseling, and the data were analyzed by using SPSS version 23. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc statistical tests were done to check for association between sociodemographic and other variables of counseling practice. In the statistical analyses, p-value of 0.05 and 95% confidence interval were considered.ResultsThe most frequent drug information given by the pharmacy professionals to clients were unit dose (65%), frequency of administration (79%), and duration of therapy (62%). Study participants claimed that lack of knowledge (37%), lack of updated drug information (49%), high patient load (62%), and absence of a private counseling room (51%) were the main factors that prohibit pharmacy professionals from counseling their patients. Those pharmacy professionals whose monthly income was <2000 Ethiopian Birr claimed lack of knowledge (p=0.007), limited access for updated drug information (p=0.009), and lack of experience (p=0.039) as factors for poor counseling practice. Results of the post hoc analysis showed significant difference among the participants with <5 and >10 years of experience in providing information on storage conditions and written materials with p-value of 0.025 and 0.016, respectively.ConclusionThis study proves that the level of satisfactory counseling is still very low compared to the expected practice. Lack of knowledge, lack of updated drug information, high patient load, absence of private counseling room, and underestimating the importance of counseling were identified as some of the factors that impede counseling services.

Medication Counseling Practices in Medicine Retail Outlets Found in Bench Sheko Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, South West Ethiopia

“…The current study was an observational study similar to study conducted in Bahir Dar city, 7 and the study in Mekele was conducted using self-administered questionnaires, with data collected as claimed by pharmacy professionals. 16 This study revealed that 90% of participants stated that they always tell what to do if a patient misses a dose, whereas reports from Bahir Dar and Mekele cities revealed 7.8% and 13%, respectively. 5 This disparity could be explained by contextual differences in the study settings and populations studied in the two research.…”

<p>Patient–Pharmacist Interaction in Ethiopia: Systematic Review of Barriers to Communication</p>

“… 5 Hirko N, Edessa D, SisayM 20 Perceived poor communication (7.1%), not clear ascent of the dispenser (12.8%), impoliteness of the dispenser (6.4%), non-clarity of the dispenser’s guidance (9.2%) and insufficiency of the dispenser’ information (27.3%) 6 Hirko N, EdessaD 5 Clearness of pharmacist’s voice and tone (16.6%), impoliteness of service provider (5.90%), non-clarity of the pharmacist’s instruction to patient (8.8%) and insufficiency of pharmacist’s knowledge (11.6%) 7 TayeY 22 Pharmacists‘ communication skills (β= 0.44), pharmacists’ empathy (β= 0.07), provision of instruction on usage of medicines (β= 0.15) and provision of information on disease condition (β= 0.23) were determinants of satisfactory counseling. 8 Wabe NT, Raju N, Angamo MT 23 Lack of knowledge (43.8%) 9 Ali S, Shimels T, Bilal AI 24 Lack of updated drug information (91.5%) Educational qualification, knowledge and age had significant influence on counseling response (P<0.05) 10 Gelayee DA, Birara MK 26 Lack of knowledge of practitioners (80.96%), lack of time of practitioners (7.94%) and lack of interest of practitioners (7.94%) 11 Belay et al 27 Lack of knowledge of practitioners (37%), lack of updated drug information (49%), poor communication (52%), lack of confidence (25%), lack of interest (30%), lack of experience (30%), poor attitude (25%) and not considering it as part of professional duties (26%) …”

“… 3 Surur et al 18 High patient load (29.5%) 4 Nigussie S and EdessaD 19 Suitability of dispensing area (62.5%), privacy in dispensing area (41.2%), waiting time for service (74.6%), availability of prescribed drug (38.9) and location of outpatient pharmacy (62%), lack of quality system (AOR=13.56) were determinants of dissatisfaction. 5 Hirko N, Edessa D, SisayM 20 Non-suitable waiting area (17.3%) 6 Hirko N, EdessaD 5 Not comfortable waiting area (9.7%) 7 Wabe NT, Raju N, Angamo MT 23 High patient load (29.7%) and no legalization (25%) 8 Ali S, Shimels T, Bilal AI 24 Lack of space (21.4%), high patient load (23.8%) and no legalization (12%) 9 Gelayee DA, Birara MK 26 Absence or inadequacy of counseling guidelines (3.17%) 10 Belay et al 27 High patient load (62%) and absence of private counseling room (51%) …”

“…21 A very short dispensing time was considered as a major factor for inadequate provision of medication counseling since patients forget more than half of the information delivered to them via oral communication. 36 The work experience of pharmacy professionals was also a barrier for patient counseling (30%) 27 and significant factor (AOR = 2.99) for satisfactory counseling. 17 Similar findings were reported from Pakistan 37 and Botswana.…”

“…The work experience of pharmacy professionals was also a barrier for patient counseling (30%) 27 and significant factor (AOR = 2.99) for satisfactory counseling. 17 Similar findings were reported from Pakistan 37 and Botswana.…”