Background: Medication use counselling (MUC) is a critical component of patient care, particularly regarding antibiotic use. Despite its importance, studies indicate that over 50% of antibiotics are inappropriately consumed globally, largely due to inadequate counselling. The "information vacuum" in medical use counselling hinders communication between the pharmacy and the patient. The study aimed to determine the uptake of MUC among patients receiving antibiotics in selected hospital pharmacies in Kiambu County.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, utilizing structured questionnaires to gather data from 423 patients and Key informant interviews among 12 pharmacy personnel across three hospitals. Statistical analysis was undertaken using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24, with significance set at p < 0.05.

Results: The findings revealed that MUC uptake varied significantly across facilities, with Kikuyu Hospital reporting the highest rate at 64%. Patients demonstrated high awareness of medication names (93.4%) and administration routes (95.5%), but knowledge regarding dosage strength (45.6%) and protocols for missed doses (37.8%) was notably low. The education level, gender, and age are factors that were significantly influenced MUC utilization; females utilized MUC more (93%) compared to males (75%) with p = 0.006, and younger patients aged 18–34 were more likely to engage in MUC (84%) compared to older patients (p = 0.011). Patients with secondary (86%) and university (94%) education showed higher MUC uptake compared to those with primary education (51%), with p = 0.001.

Conclusions:The overall uptake rate for MUC was found to be 64%, indicating a need for improvement in counselling practices. The key findings of the study are that socio-demographic factors impacted heavily on uptake of medical use counselling, where more was utilised by females, younger patients and individuals with higher educational attainment.

Keywords: Medication use counselling, Pharmacy personnel, Inappropriate antibiotics use, Drug information