An assessment of pharmacist counselling on the patients’ knowledge of ophthalmic medications

Background: Pharmacist counselling helps patients achieve their treatment goals by improving their medication knowledge, including ocular drugs. The visual system transmits 80% of sensory information; hence, eye health is crucial. Routine pharmacist counselling has been carried out to gain ophthalmic medication knowledge for every patient dispensed with a prescription in the outpatient pharmacy Surabaya eye clinic. However, the result of this counselling on patients’ knowledge has not been evaluated. Objective: The aim of this study is to measure the level of patients’ knowledge of ophthalmic medications. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out for one month by interviewing patients. A well-structured questionnaire of 15 questions was developed to assess the patient’s knowledge. The level of knowledge was classified as high, moderate, or low. Results: This study involved a total of 80 patients. The study showed that patients with a high, moderate, or low level of knowledge were represented by 33(41.25%), 45(56.25%), and 2(2.5%) patients, respectively. Demographic characteristics (gender and educational level) did not affect patients’ knowledge of ophthalmic medication (p > 0.05). The knowledge of potential side effects of ophthalmic drugs was least understood. Conclusion: There is a need for improvement in the performance of pharmacist counselling since most patients have moderate to low knowledge of ophthalmic medications.