Background According to the Institute of Medicines, it is estimated that nearly one-half of all adults in the United States have problems in complying with medication instructions. This has become a challenge worldwide to achieve a comprehensive healthcare delivery to patients. A study to establish factors why some patients misunderstand medication instructions was conducted at the Copperbelt University clinic.

Purpose To determine the factors that influence patients from getting medication instructions from the dispensary clearly. To identify the more prevalent factors that cause misunderstanding between dispenser and patient when medication instructions or information is being given.

Material and methods A semi-structured interview with patients was used. Regarding patients understanding of the instructions given by the dispenser when medicines were supplied to them, an exit interview was carried out by the researcher to patients who collected medicines from the pharmacy. This included adult male and female patients above 12 years. Their responses were recorded and tallied in the register book. This study was carried out between October 2017 and December 2017.

Results Eleven factors were established. Out of 5235 patients who received pharmaceutical services, 1641 patients were interviewed. The dispensing design factor represented 23.45%, while the least was the language factor with 0.24%.

Conclusion Health professionals have a duty to ensure that instructions are given to the patients with clear understanding in whatever situations they are operating from, in order to achieve a complete healthcare delivery system.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. Design for Patient Safety: a guide to the design of dispensing environment, Ist Edition 2007.

2. Management Sciences for Health; Managing Drug Supply, 2nd Edition, revised and expanded, 1981.

3. Kampamba Martin, Evelyn Hone College, Pharmacy Section, Dispensing Manual, 2006.

No conflict of interest.