The study was carried out basing on the topic “Factors influencing dispensing of class B controlled medicines without prescriptions in community pharmacies.” The main objective was to assess the knowledge levels on class B controlled medicines by persons dispensing in community pharmacies, to determine the adherence to the regulations of class B medicines in community pharmacies and to determine commonly dispensed class B controlled medicines in community pharmacies. The study employed a descriptive cross sectional survey design where both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used with the help of questionnaires and interview guides to collect data from the field. All data was grouped and analyzed in a statistical way where by data was presented in tables showing frequencies and percentages. The major findings of the study were; Concerning the knowledge levels of respondents on class B controlled medicines by persons dispensing in community pharmacies, most of them lacked enough knowledge about class B controlled drugs, most of the persons dispensing group B medicine are found to be dispensers and also gender and age have no influence on the knowledge of class B drugs of the dispensing persons also concerning the relationship of respondents on the knowledge of class B controlled drugs; there was statistical significance between dispensing class B controlled drugs without prescription and knowledge about class B drugs, there is no significant relationship between gender and age on the knowledge of class B controlled drugs. Pertaining the adherence of respondents to the regulations of class B medicines in community pharmacies; most pharmacies dispense class B medicine without prescription, most dispensing persons in community pharmacies do not adhere to regulations of class B controlled drugs, most of pharmacies are also unlicensed, have staff that are untrained, and sell medicine that may be of uncertain quality or that they are not allowed to dispense. It was concluded that most of the local pharmacies don’t adhere to rules and regulations of the national drugs authority in dispensing group B controlled medicine The most commonly dispensed class B controlled medicine included antimicrobials and Analgesic as class B medicines. The study recommends that; the government through the ministry of health should put strict rules and regulation governing pharmacies, there should be community sensitization, the parliament of Uganda should pass laws restricting people from starting up drug shops in rural areas without a recognized license and also a penalty should also be given to a person found buying drugs from unlicensed drug shops. The areas for further studies include; effects of distributing controlled medicines without prescriptions and factors limiting rural pharmacies to adhere to rules and regulation concerning dispensing class B controlled medicine.

show more