Medication Counselling on Unlicensed Medicines Should Be Improved - Results from a Finnish Survey for Patients and Pharmacy Staff.

Background: Finnish authorities have published specific instructions for prescribing, handling, and dispensing unlicensed medicines and for the associated communication with patients. However, there is a clear research gap concerning the quality of medication counselling given by doctors and especially pharmacists to patients who are prescribed unlicensed medicines. The success of such counselling was studied with a survey for both pharmacy staff and patients.