Objectives: To assess the quality of dispensing and patient knowledge of drugs dispensed in primary care in Botswana.

Setting: Thirty randomly assigned primary healthcare facilities in three districts of Botswana.

Participants: Patients visiting clinics and health posts.

Design: Analysis of data from prospective participative observations of the drug dispensing process and interview of patients about their knowledge of drugs received immediately after dispensing. The quality of drug labelling was assessed by calculating mean labelling scores composed of five dispensing attributes: name of patient, and name, strength, dosage, and volume of the drug (incorrect or no labelling=0, 1 point for each correct labelling attribute; maximum score=5). Mean knowledge scores were obtained immediately after dispensing from patient recall of name and dosage of drug, duration of treatment, and reason for prescription (incorrect recall=0, 1 point for each correct recall attribute; maximum score=4).

Results: 2994 consecutive patient consultations were analysed. The mean labelling score was 2.75. Family welfare educators and pharmacy technicians scored highest (3.15 and 2.98, respectively) and untrained staff lowest (2.60). Factors independently associated with the labelling score were analgesics v other drugs, district, health posts v clinics, education of prescriber (nurse best), and years of experience of prescriber (4–11 years best). The mean patient knowledge score was 2.50. The reason for prescription of the drug(s), dosage, duration of treatment, and name of the drug(s) was recalled by 92%, 83%, 44%, and 31% of patients, respectively. The qualification level of the dispenser was the strongest factor independently associated with the knowledge score. Antibiotics had the second lowest score, both for labelling (2.39) and patient knowledge (2.39).

Conclusion: Only trained dispensing staff provided satisfactory quality of labelling. Patients had a fair knowledge of the drugs dispensed. The knowledge of drugs dispensed by family welfare educators was less than satisfactory. The labelling score is a useful indicator of the quality of dispensing, and the knowledge score of both the quality of prescribing and of dispensing. These indicators should be added to the WHO list of patient care indicators.