Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction Dispensing process involves preparation and giving of medicines according to a prescription to a person, it also involves proper preparation and labeling of medicines for patient according to the instructions of prescriber. 1 Dispensing is crucial process for assuring rational use of drugs as a small mistake can lead to wrong drug, wrong dose , wrong advice, therefore it is important that drug should be dispensed correctly. 2 Many factors infuence dispenser behavior including: training and knowledge, professional compensation, economic incentives, supply, available product information, availability of dispensing equipment, public versus private-sector promotional and marketing techniques, social status of a dispenser and his or her role in the health care system, dispenser-prescriber relationship and lack of communication skills. 3 The pharmacists and other health personnel always try to reduce the chances of medication errors. It is the practice of labeling that helps them achieve this goal. 4 Labeling is a unique identity or name given to a medicine so that patients can identify the medicine and fnd it easier to use. 5 A properly labeled medicine not only helps the practitioner in prescribing correct medicine and nurses to administer right medicines in right doses to right patients but it also helps the patients to make informed decision in emergency situation. 6–7 Each type of drug dispensed i.e. OTC, controlled preparations and injections have their own labeling requirements that must be taken care during dispensing. This way the labeling will become adequate and the patient and practitioner both will be at beneft. 8 Despite of the importance of medicine labeling, the labeling done in actual is very inconsistent and incomplete, 9–10 as health personnel are not able to understand the signs, colors and dosages labeled of the packages. The reason for the high rate of medication errors even for the labeled medicinal drugs is that the labeling is ineffective. 11 Owing to the importance of labeling of medicines different countries have developed their own guidelines. With respect to Pakistan un-availability of national standard labeling guidelines, lack of access to guidelines, lack of implementation, inadequate knowledge, training of dispensers, use of variable format of labeling among and within pharmacies, use of non-scientifc and vague language on labels, improper use of auxiliary labels are the most MOJ Drug Des Develop Ther. 2018;2(1):1‒7. 1 © 2018 Malik et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Medication labeling practices at in-patient hospital pharmacies: the present dilemma in Pakistan Volume 2 Issue 1 - 2018 Madeeha Malik, Azhar Hussain, Tunzeela Amin Hamdard Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hamdard University, Pakistan Correspondence: Madeeha Malik, Hamdard Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hamdard University, Islamabad Pakistan, Email madeehamalik15@gmail.com Received: July 30, 2017 | Published: January 23, 2018 Abstract Drug labels provide first hand information to the patients as well as it provides a unique identity to the medical product. Misreading the label, inadequate information on label, inappropriate labeling font, writing style and its placement on the dosage form are the few of the barriers identified for inappropriate labeling practices. Objective: The main objective of the present study was to assess current labeling practices in inpatient departments of health care facilities among public and private sectors in twin cities of Pakistan. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. A total of twenty healthcare facilities were randomly selected i.e. 10 from public and 10 from private sectors. As per WHO criteria thirty encounters per facility were observed. ISMP guidelines were used to develop a structured observation form. After data collection, data was recorded on structured observation form containing pre-determined set of indicators. After data collection, data was cleaned, coded and entered in SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages were calculated. Kruskal- Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (p≤0.05) were performed to find out differences among variables. Results: Out of total hospitals visited only 10% were having proper IPD pharmacy setup in public sector while in private sector 50% were having proper IPD pharmacy setup. Significant differences (p≤0.05) were found among the labeling practices carried for label identification, label instruction and label layout with respect to city, sector, gender, designation, age, experience and dosage form. Labeling practices carried in private sector and healthcare facilities located in Islamabad were comparatively better than the public sector and healthcare facilities located in Rawalpindi. Pharmacists had relatively more compliance with the standard labeling guidelines. Conclusion: The present study concluded that the labeling practices carried at the hospital pharmacies were not up to the mark. Although labeling practices in terms of labeling identification was appropriately mentioned but labeling instructions and layout were not in compliance with the standard labeling guidelines. This might be due to lack of availability/implementation of national standard labeling guidelines, lack of interest, knowledge and training of dispensers regarding good labeling practices. Keywords: medicines, labeling, dispensers, IPD pharmacy, dispensers MOJ Drug Design Development & Terapy Research Article Open Access