The practice of counseling in pharmacy: patients’ perspectives

Abstract

Aim The objective of the study was to assess pharmacists rsquo counseling practices from the patient perspective using the United States Pharmacopeia USP Medication Counseling Behavior Guidelines MCBG questionnaire Methods This was a cross sectional study conducted over months in the outpatients section of the pharmacy department in two tertiary care hospitals King Abdulaziz Medical City Riyadh and King Fahad Medical City Participants were randomly selected to complete the USP MCBG questionnaire and gave their full consent to the data collector USP MCBG questionnaire is an interactive approach between the patient and the pharmacist which takes into account the patient rsquo s special needs beliefs and perceptions about medication use The questionnaire included items with a two point response scale The questionnaire was divided into four sections corresponding to the four stages of the medication counseling process Results During the study period subjects were enrolled and of these responded to our questionnaire response rate The study population was gender balanced most respondents were Saudi nationals and reported having at least high school education There were no differences between the socio demographic profiles of participants at the two study sites The overall mean USP MCBG score of satisfaction was plusmn highest score is Within subsections of the questionnaire lsquo Management of treatment rsquo scored the highest plusmn and lsquo Communication rsquo scored the lowest plusmn In terms of medication counseling more than gt of patients had a positive perception and were satisfied with the performance of outpatient pharmacists At almost all stages of the counseling process there was a slightly inversely proportional relationship between patient age and satisfaction with pharmacist performance Conclusion Using the USP MCB guidelines patients rsquo perception of and satisfaction with pharmacists counseling in the outpatient setting was positive Greater effort is needed to ensure effective counseling services in particular subpopulations such as in the elderly nbsp In general patients were more satisfied with pharmacist counseling pertinent to ldquo management of treatment rdquo however they were less satisfied regarding the pharmacists way of communication