Patients’ perception toward the service quality of community pharmacies for non-prescription medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research aims to investigate how patients perceive different dimensions of service quality, especially for non-prescription medicines during the outbreak. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 378 Thai patients during the spread of COVID-19. An online questionnaire was developed to measure patient perception toward the service quality of community pharmacies. Results The results show that service quality in the dimension of competence rated the highest score, followed by sincerity, reliability, personalization, and communication, respectively. For gender comparison, the results indicate that males and females have statistically different perceptions on reliability, sincerity, personalization, and communication. For age comparison, the results show that three age groups (young, middle age, and elderly) are statistically different in terms of sincerity and personalization. Conclusion This study highlights the level of different service quality dimensions as perceived by regular patients who purchase non-prescription medicines from a community pharmacy. The results contribute to how pharmacies could improve overall service quality, especially in the era of a pandemic.