Dispensing Practice of Pharmacy Staff in the Provision of Emergency Contraceptive Pills

Abstract

Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs) are being used as regular contraception even though they should rather be used as a bridge to regular contraception. This could be achieved if pharmacy staff were to dispense ECPs such that clients would be informed and encouraged to access some form of regular contraception. This would involve good history taking as part of assessment prior to ECP provision by pharmacy staff. This study was aimed at assessing the dispensing practice of pharmacy staff in the provision of ECPs. Employing the mystery client approach, this study was a quantitative, cross-sectional study in which a 19 item pre-coded data collection instrument was used to assess the dispensing practice of 220 randomly selected pharmacy staff in Accra as they provide ECPs on over-the-counter (OTC) basis. Data were analysed through Chi-square testing and multivariate logistic regression using STATA version 13. The results indicate that even though counselling is inadequate pharmacists are more likely to exhibit high quality dispensing practice (HQDP) as compared to the other groups of pharmacy staff assessed. Generally, pharmacy staff are friendly and clients are served upon arrival. Also, pharmacy staff tend to exhibit HQDP if the client is third party. In conclusion, ECPs are not being used as a bridge for future/regular contraception in Ghana as most pharmacy clients are not being educated on the need for regular contraception post ECP use. This is due to the inadequate knowledge base of most pharmacy staff on this need. Recommendations offered include continuing professional education for pharmacy staff especially in the dispensing of OTC drugs such as ECPs. Development of standard checklists or protocols in the dispensing of ECPs should also be looked at and considered by the relevant authorities so that all pharmacy staff would be trained in its use. Further research is also needed in this area possibly a qualitative one to further explore the exact interaction between pharmacy staff and MCs.