Adherence to the World Health Organizati on’s Pati ent Care Indicators in Outpati ent Department Dispensing at a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross-Secti onal Observati onal Study

Abstract

The World Health Organizati on (WHO) has developed good dispensing practi ces (GDPs) to standardize the performance of pharmacists. Hence, they can be used as indicators to assess the quality of dispensing services. Evaluati ng the quality of dispensing is pivotal in improving dispensing practi ces in a healthcare insti tute. The objecti ve of this study was to assess the adherence of outpati ent department (OPD) pharmacists to WHO’s pati ent care indicators. This was a cross-secti onal, observati onal study conducted at the OPD pharmacy of the Teaching Hospital, Jaff na. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics review committ ee, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya. Eight pharmacists named A to G in the OPD were evaluated using a checklist by a single observer for about 10 dispensing cycles assessing average dispensing ti me, percentage of pati ents’ knowledge of correct dosage, percentage of drugs adequately labelled, and percentage of drugs dispensed resulti ng in the observati on of 78 dispensing cycles. Pati ent knowledge was assessed using a structured questi onnaire administered postdispensati on. These assessments were carried out in the real dispensing environment at the OPD, and the results were infl uenced by multi ple factors in the dispensing environment. The average dispensing ti me was 41.8 sec. Pharmacist A showed the highest dispensing ti me (55.7 sec) and pharmacist E showed the lowest dispensing ti me (31.0 sec). The percentage of drug knowledge among the pati ents varied between 50.0% to 65.0%. All the pharmacists adequately labelled the drugs during the dispensati on except pharmacist A (68.9%). Pharmacists B and C dispensed 100.0% of prescribed drugs. While adherence to certain WHO pati ent care indicators such as drug labelling and dispensing percentages were sati sfactory, the average dispensing ti me and pati ent knowledge were below WHO recommended standards.