Labelling of dispensed medicines according to legal requirements: analysis and comparison of community pharmacies and private clinics in Selangor, Malaysia

Patient misunderstanding and lack of information in dispensed medication labelling may affect the therapeutic goals in medical healthcare system. The labelling of medications encompasses the provision of information and instruction to ensure the safe and effective use of products by patients. The label of a dispensed medication represents one of the most important sources of information available to patients. Lack of medication information may and thus increase the chances of medication error. Nonetheless, medication error that originates from labelling error could be eliminated and prevented from occurring. The objective of this study are to measure and compare the dispensed medication labelling compliance between community pharmacies and private UiTM panel clinics in Selangor. A cross sectional study was conducted from September 2015 to May 2016 which involve the total sample of 131 community pharmacies and 46 UiTM private clinics. Generally clinic demonstrated higher compliance (p < 0.001) in term of providing essentials information such as name of patient, name and address of the clinic, date of supply as well as indication of the medicine. Clinics provide more sufficient information in most aspect of labelling. The government health care regulatory organization need to play a strong and leading role in promoting safe used of medication practice by ensuring the utilization of existing standardized medication labels. This research had thrown up many questions in need of further investigation. Further research need to be done in order to get clearer picture of a healthcare practitioner among pharmacies and clinics as a whole.