2024/02/23 by Ola-Olorun, Omoniyi J., Tijani, Akeem A.
#Medicine quality #community pharmacy #counterfeit medicine #quality assurance #quality assurance capability
paper · doi:10.60787/wapcp-27-1-104
Background: Medicine quality is a global concern and lack of reliable quality assurance (QA) system for medicines may be contributory to the high level of spurious medicines in many developing countries. Objectives: The study evaluated the level of institutionalization of QA components for medicine inventory in community pharmacies in two cities of Osun State in Nigeria as a measure of QA capability and explored for factors influencing QA capability. Methods: A set of pretested semi-structured questionnaire was administered to community pharmacists practicing in Oshogbo and Ile-Ife. The instrument sought information on the level of institutionalization of essential components of QA, and explored for factors influencing QA, both on ordinal scales with weighting scores of 1-5 and 0-4 respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Chi square, Spearman's rank correlation as well as multiple and ordinal regressions were used to evaluate the respondents' opinions at 5% level of significance. Results: Only two (12.5%) of the essential components of QA had been implemented (WA≈ 4) and none institutionalised (WA≈5). The three most prominent factors influencing QA capability were management commitment, suppliers and government regulatory control all with median score of 4. Conclusion: Quality assurance capability for medicine inventory in the community pharmacies was low.