Abstract
Background: Chronic diseases are health conditions that progress over time and are persistent. For effective management of chronic diseases, patients are required to have adequate knowledge of their medications.
Objectives: This study was done to assessmedication knowledge of diabetes and hypertensive patients’ attending the community pharmacy setting and to identify factors that influence the patients’ medication knowledge.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in randomly selected community pharmacies in Benin City, Nigeria, over a period of two months; from February to March 2024. A structured questionnaire was used to assess patient medication knowledge and categorized as poor, moderate and good depending upon the score. The questionnaire was scored, 0-4 poor knowledge, 5-7 moderate knowledge, and 8-10 good knowledge.
Result: The study comprised of 249 patients, the majority of respondents (95.2%) were within the age range of 40-60 years and they had good knowledge of their chronic medication (78.3%).The results showed the current state of patient knowledge of their medications, with lowest correct response on side effects (33.3%) and identified education, duration of use and medical condition as factors that influence patients medication knowledge
Conclusion: This study showed majority of hypertensive and diabetic patients have good medication knowledge, but still lack in certain areas like side effect, foods to avoid and other information necessary for better self-management. The findings of this research serve as a tool to inform community pharmacists to better utilize their contact with patients to improve their health outcomes.
Keywords: Medication knowledge, community pharmacy, chronic diseases.
