Patient Satisfaction With Public Pharmacy Services: Structural and Policy Implications From Greece.

Abstract

Objectives This study aimed at investigating patient satisfaction with services offered by a certain type of public pharmacies in Greece (National Organisation for Healthcare Provision (EOPYY) pharmacies), tasked with dispensing mostly high-cost drugs, in an effort to highlight the aspects to be optimized. Methods The Patient Satisfaction with Pharmacist Services Questionnaire 2.0 (PSPSQ 2.0) questionnaire was the main instrument of our research. We received 201 full responses from patients themselves and patients' companions who had visited EOPYY pharmacies in Athens, the capital city of Greece, from October 2022 to January 2023. Results Patients seem satisfied with public pharmacies in general. In fact, the professionalism of the pharmacists, the respect that patients have received from them, and the information and explanations that were given by pharmacists, received a very high score. On the other hand, the parameters referred to the information that patients received from pharmacists for the overall improvement of their health had the lowest score, revealing an apparent lag in the field of medicinal advice. Conclusion Without any doubt, patients expect their pharmacists to be more guiding and to better communicate this role. This requires more time to be spent with patients, focused training, teamwork, layout, and other organizational interventions.