Abstract
Purpose: Patient satisfaction can identify specific areas of improvement in community pharmacy services. Currently in Pakistan, no evidence exists in this regard. This study was conducted to determine the needs of patients and the current standards of pharmacies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2016 and June 2017. A pilot tested questionnaire was used to collected the data from 1088 patients of 544 community pharmacies. Likert scale and one way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Results: The response rate of community pharmacies was 80% and that of purchasers was 68.1%. The mean age of participants was 35.2 years. The mean overall satisfaction score of participants was 2.78/5.00. Many patients were dissatisfied (1.65/5.00) with parking facilities provided by pharmacies. Pharmacy service time fulfilled the requirements of most patients (4.16/5.00). The counseling person’s good attitude (3.99/5.00) was credited by purchasers. Level of patient satisfaction with the availability of medicines (3.19/5.00), safe storage of medicines in pharmacy stores (3.66/5.00), and quality of medicines (3.41/5.00) were almost moderate. Many patients were very satisfied (4.35/5.00) with readable instructions for their medications. Approximately half of the patients were dissatisfied with the waiting time. Many patients were also dissatisfied (2.28/5.00) with the knowledge of the counseling person. Patients perceived that staff interest in patient recovery (2.24/5.00) was low. No significant difference in level of satisfaction with regard to participant’s characteristics was found. Conclusions: The current study demonstrated a low level of patient satisfaction with regard to community pharmacy services in Pakistan. These services need improvement.
Highlights
Patient satisfaction is an important humanistic testimony to determine the outcome, serves and sustainability of any health care system [1]
The evidences promulgate that satisfied patients uphold good relations with their health care providers and adhere to treatment that lead to better health outcomes
More satisfied patients are persistent in using health care services and values [2]
Summary
Patient satisfaction is an important humanistic testimony to determine the outcome, serves and sustainability of any health care system [1]. Patient satisfaction is a key indicator to comparing the quality of services in different patient care services, systems, and programs. These indicators are helpful for improving healthcare and for ensuring higher compliance [3]. Many studies have been conducted worldwide to evaluate patient satisfaction toward community pharmacy services. As this indicator become pivotal marker in developed countries, interest in patient satisfaction assessment is growing in developing countries to analyze the services of community pharmacies [2,6]. Due to difference in performance of community pharmacies, the patients’ need, perception and satisfaction level varied in developing countries [5,6]
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