Abstract
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to understand elderly consumers’ satisfaction on the community pharmacy services in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Materials and methods: A sample of 32 consumers, aged over 60, was recruited in four pharmacies in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from December, 2017 to January, 2018. Q-methodology was used to identify the patterns of consumers’ satisfaction. Results: Two distinct patterns of elderly consumers’ viewpoints toward the community pharmacy services were identified. Elderly consumers in viewpoint 1 were satisfied with the geographic accessibility of community pharmacies. Elderly consumers in viewpoint 2 were satisfied with the affordability of medicines. However, consumers of both viewpoints expressed dissatisfaction with the pharmacy staff counseling on missed doses, storage, side effects, and interactions of medicines. Conclusion: The results from this study suggest that pharmacy staff need to spend more time for consultations on proper medication use with elderly consumers.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to understand elderly consumers’ satisfaction on the community pharmacy services in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
In Vietnam, the proportion of elderly people accounts for 10% in 2017 and will nearly double, reaching 18.1% in 2049 (General Statistics Office and United Nations Population Fund 2016)
The views of older customers on the quality of pharmaceutical services in Vietnam were determined by Q-methodology, which was developed by William Stephenson in the mid-1930s (Brown 1993)
Summary
The purpose of this study was to understand elderly consumers’ satisfaction on the community pharmacy services in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Results: Two distinct patterns of elderly consumers’ viewpoints toward the community pharmacy services were identified. Consumers in viewpoint 1 were satisfied with the geographic accessibility of community pharmacies. Consumers in viewpoint 2 were satisfied with the affordability of medicines. Conclusion: The results from this study suggest that pharmacy staff need to spend more time for consultations on proper medication use with elderly consumers. In Vietnam, the proportion of elderly people accounts for 10% in 2017 and will nearly double, reaching 18.1% in 2049 (General Statistics Office and United Nations Population Fund 2016). Older people often face multiple chronic conditions, and take medications more than any other age groups (Jansen and Brouwers 2012). The use of multiple medications in older adults may increase the risk of drug duplication, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions, and results in medication nonadherence (Charlesworth et al 2015)
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