Patient medication counselling in community pharmacy: evaluation of the quality and content

Patient medication counselling (PMC) is a pharmaceutical care service targeted at optimizing patient drug use, safety and improving treatment outcomes. This study assessed the content and quality of PMC from the community pharmacists' (CPs) and pharmacy customers' (PCs) perspectives. A cross-sectional questionnaire-guided survey was conducted in Ibadan, Nigeria, among 125 CPs and 612 PCs. The 35-counselling items validated United States Pharmacopeia Medication Counselling Behaviour Guideline scale with 10-point graded responses (1 = poor to 10 = excellent) was used. Self-reported medication counselling information content provided by CPs and received by PCs was assessed and expressed in median and interquartile ranges. The quality of PMC was evaluated and graded as poor (1-29.9%), unsatisfactory (30-59.9%), satisfactory (60-79.9%) and excellent (80-100%). Associations between demographic variables and overall quality of counselling were determined with Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests at p