Quality Of Pharmacy Services Research Articles

The principles of person-centredness in quality patient care-Evaluation of the Community Pharmacy Services Quality Guidelines in Estonia.

Person-centredness is considered a key component of quality healthcare and the core competence of all healthcare professionals. However, person-centred care (PCC) is not often considered a priority for improving the quality of healthcare. This study aimed to evaluate to what extent the PCC principles are included in the Community Pharmacy Services Quality Guidelines (CPSQG) in Estonia. The deductive content analysis was performed using the PCC framework developed by Santana etal. Approximately 2/3 (n=78) of the CPSQG indicators (n=126) in the practical guide used in Estonian community pharmacies support PCC principles. These results demonstrate that quality service itself includes some PCC components, as it forms an integral part of quality care and is directly related to its development. More than half (61.6%) of the CPSQG indicators were divided into process (covering the interaction of pharmacists and patients), one fourth into structure (mainly represented as environment and operation topics), and one tenth into outcome category (access to care). This result is in line with the situation of pharmacies in Estonia, where the current focus is on developing and implementing quality services (e.g., quality guidelines, e-tools supporting dispensing, restructuring of counselling area for private consultations) and finding the necessary resources for described activities. To support a more effective application of PCC principles in the community pharmacy practice, the CPSQG should be supplemented with indicators identifying patients' individual preferences, values, and needs. Additionally, interactions with other healthcare professionals should be encouraged, and they should be engaged in developing the CPSQG.

A patient-reported experience measure for community pharmacy including development of a short-form: The perceived service quality scale.

The perceived service quality scale (pSQS) is a patient-reported experience measure (PREM) previously developed for measuring perceived service quality (pSQ) in community pharmacies. While measuring pSQ is feasible, further psychometric evaluation of the pSQS is warranted. In addition, the length of the 20-item pSQS may lead to fatigue among patients. It remains to be determined whether a short form of the pSQS has acceptable psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to psychometrically test the pSQS with a specific focus on making scoring recommendations and developing a short form pSQS with acceptable psychometric properties. Participants were recruited either in community pharmacies or via an online panel to complete a questionnaire including the pSQS. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted using robust statistics, including tests of factorial invariance. Alternative models were tested including a bifactor model. Spearman's correlation was used to conduct test-retest analyses on responses obtained one month apart. Data were analysed from 319 participants recruited in-store and 303 participants recruited online, 86 participants providing test-retest reliability. Tests of factorial invariance indicated that the pSQS is stable across settings. The most parsimonious and best-fitting solution was obtained with a 19-item bifactor model with 5 factors plus a "general" factor. Factor scores obtained from the "general" factor explained sufficient variance and are unlikely to be excessively biased in regression models. A short-form 6-item scale (pSQ-SF6) demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and similar predictive capacity to the original pSQS for patient loyalty intentions. Test-retest analyses indicated acceptable reliability for pSQS and PSQ-SF6. This study confirms that the pSQS has acceptable psychometric properties including temporal stability. It is recommended that a 19-item pSQS be used to obtain a comprehensive overview of patients' pSQ. The short-form pSQ-SF6 is suitable as a community pharmacy PREM.

Implementation of an integrated pharmacist collaborative care model in specialty disease state clinics.

To expand health-system specialty pharmacy (HSSP) clinical continuity by implementing a specialty integrated model for clinical services in target sites. After evaluation of baseline clinical continuity and institutional goals, select clinics were identified as target sites to which to expand this integrated approach of a medication management clinic (MMC). In this MMC model, the key steps included engaging stakeholders, workflow training, optimization of the electronic health record, service evaluation, compliance with regulatory standards, and development of marketing strategies. The initial focus was development of innovative collaborative practice agreements (CPAs) to expand the scope of ambulatory care pharmacists' practice. Analysis of existing specialty and ambulatory workflows and technology was completed before development of the integrated workflow. Existing credentialing policies were updated to support expanded practices, and marketing collaterals were developed to support growth of pharmacy referrals. Meetings with stakeholders took place to ensure smooth transitions into integrated areas. Primary endpoints included clinical continuity, as determined by prescription orders placed within the health system sent to the HSSP, and number of signed referrals to MMC. Secondary endpoints included disease state-specific clinical outcomes as well as overall outcomes such as medication adherence, laboratory test adherence, immunization rates, and patient and clinician satisfaction. An MMC model was successfully implemented in 5 target specialty practices. Specialty clinic CPAs were developed for rheumatology and digestive health (including viral hepatitis). Since implementation, clinical continuity increased 23% and referrals exceeded the target at 165%. Data on secondary endpoints are currently being collected to evaluate quality of pharmacy services. Pharmacy services have enhanced patient care and received positive feedback from clinicians. Expansion of integrated decentralized pharmacists into target practices has increased clinical continuity and the number of pharmacist referrals. Clinicians have regarded pharmacists as vital members of the team. Creation of additional specialty CPAs will be needed to support further growth in other clinics.

Lean Approach of Pharmaceutical Installations At Hospital ABC Purbalingga to Increase Pharmacy Service Efficiency

A good pharmacy quality services are intended to the pharmaceutical product which is well prepared, stored, distributed, dispensed and discarded. However, these days services are assessed through medication availability, waiting time and user satisfaction. Therefore, hospitals need to make continuous quality improvements to the process of service, facilities, utilities, and health workers. This research aims to propose improvements to hospital pharmacy services quality by using Lean approaches in reducing services waiting time of concoction medicine. A case study was at Hospital ABC at Central Java, conducted in February-April 2019. There is a crucial problem was the prescription drug waiting time of concoction medicine. This study begins with process flow analysis and waste identification by interviewing with stakeholders of the hospital. Non-value added and value-added activities been divided, then time measurement in each activity is carried out with a time study method, to get the actual time of compounding the drug. Current state flow was mapped using value stream mapping tools, and future state flow map was recommended. Using lean tools, value-added activities have been identified and process time in future state map optimized to 47%. By using 5-why’s root cause analysis, problems identified and improvement of visual management were recommended.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES TO PATIENT SATISFACTION AT THE PUSKESMAS TRADING BANDAR DISTRICT SIMALUNGUN DISTRICT

The research entitled The Relationship of Pharmaceutical Services to Patient Satisfaction at the Trading Health Center, Bandar District, Simalungun Regency was conducted in July - August 2019. The purpose of this study was to find out how the application of pharmaceutical service standards at the Puskesmas, the level of patient satisfaction and the effect of applying pharmaceutical service standards on satisfaction Patients This research is a descriptive survey research that is cross-sectional. Data collection was carried out by observation by researchers to find out the application of pharmaceutical service standards and to conduct interviews with patients to determine the level of satisfaction with pharmaceutical services. Data was collected from 170 respondents in July-August 2019 at the Trading Health Center, Bandar District, Simalungun Regency, The application of pharmaceutical service standards studied in this study is human resources, facilities and infrastructure for the management of drugs and medical consumables, clinical pharmacy services and service quality control. The criteria for measuring the level of satisfaction include five variables, namely reliability, responsiveness, confidence, empathy and tangible facilities. The results showed that the implementation of pharmaceutical service standards at the Commercial Health Center, namely the application of pharmaceutical service standards at the Commercial Health Center, was included in the less category. Based on the average value of total patient satisfaction, the level of patient satisfaction at the Jawa Maraja Health Center was included in the satisfied category. The application of pharmaceutical service standards at the Commercial Health Center to patient satisfaction with the Mann-Whiteney Test obtained a sig value of <0.05.

Ten years of Community Pharmacy Services Quality Guidelines (CPSQG) in Estonia - adoption and awareness among pharmacists

The opioid crisis is a global public health issue, especially present in the United States. Limited research addresses pharmacists’ opioid medication counseling practices particularly their risk and safety counseling practices.The objective of this paper is to categorize pharmacists based on their opioid risk and safety counseling practices to inform future interventions and research to improve practice. The percent of pharmacists falling into each of these underlying, unobservable subgroups is identified using latent class analysis.This study was conducted as a statewide survey of pharmacists using the modified Dilman technique. The survey consisted of ten items about pharmacists’ opioid risk and safety practices when dispensing an opioid medication. Descriptive statistics were conducted followed by latent class analysis. This approach categorized pharmacists based on their responses to the survey items.Responses from 216 pharmacists were used in this study. In the three-class model which was deemed the best fit, the first class shows a profile of pharmacists who counsel on almost all opioid risk and safety topics and composed 16.75% of the total respondent population. The second class shows a profile of pharmacists who hardly counsel on any opioid risks and safety topics and comprised 39.80% of the respondent population. The third class shows a profile of pharmacists counseling on opioid risk and safety topics mostly for new or long-term prescriptions, but not for refill or short-term prescriptions. This group constituted 43.45% of the respondent population.This study identifies distinct classes of pharmacists in terms of the frequency with which their opioid counseling does or does not include key elements of risk and safety topics. A small minority usually include the risk and safety issues. Training and resource interventions targeting pharmacists who do not counsel patients about opioid risks are important to help them become more comfortable and adept as opioid risk and safety educators.

Development of the Manchester framework for the evaluation of emergency department pharmacy services

BackgroundMany countries, including the United Kingdom, have established Emergency Department (ED) pharmacy services where some ED pharmacists now work as practitioners. They provide both traditional pharmaceutical care and novel practitioner care i.e. clinical examination, yet their impact on quality of care is unknown.AimTo develop a framework of structures, processes and potential outcome indicators to support evaluation of the quality of ED pharmacy services in future studies.MethodFramework components (structures, processes and potential outcome indicators) were identified in three ways: from a narrative review of relevant international literature, and separate panel meetings with ED pharmacists and then other ED healthcare professionals. Structures and processes were collated into categories developed iteratively throughout data collection, with outcome indicators collated into six domains of quality as proposed by the Institute of Medicine. These raw data were then processed e.g. outcome indicators screened for clarity i.e. those which explicitly stated what would be measured were included in the framework.ResultsA total of 190 structures, 533 processes, and 503 outcome indicators were identified. Through data processing a total of 153 outcome indicators were included in the final framework divided into the domains safe (32), effective (50), patient centred (18), timely (24), efficient (20) and equitable (9).ConclusionThe first framework specific to the quality evaluation ED pharmacy services, service evaluators should validate potential outcome indicators prior to their use. The minimum expected of a high-quality service should also be defined to enable interpretation of relevant measurements.

Service quality in outpatient teaching hospital pharmacies based on the SERVQUAL model: An assessment in the south of Iran.

The present study assessed the quality of services in the outpatient teaching hospital pharmacies affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2019 according to the SERVQUAL model to identify areas for improvement. The research was cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical. Patients referred to the outpatient teaching hospital pharmacies affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences formed the study population. The sample size was 300 people chosen through the stratified sampling method proportional to the size as well as the convenience sampling method. The modified SERVQUAL questionnaire developed by Mohammadi et al. (in Eftekhar Ardabili H, Akbari Haghighi F, Mahmoudi M, Poorreza A. Evaluation of service quality based on the patients' expectations and perceptions in Zanjan hospitals. J Sch Public Health Inst Public Health Res. 2003;2:71-84) was used for data collection. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 24.0 using statistical tests of paired t-test, independent t-test and ANOVA. A P-value of <0.05 showed statistical significance. Moreover, EXCEL 2013 was used to draw the graphs. The results showed that the participants had higher expectations regarding the quality of pharmacy services in all six dimensions compared to their perceptions (negative gaps) and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). The largest gap was in the 'access' dimension (G = -0.44 ± 1.15) and the smallest one was in the 'reliability' dimension (G = -0.21 ± 1.30). Also, the mean of overall quality gap, among the patients' demographic characteristics, had a significant relationship only with having supplementary health insurance coverage (P = 0.03). It seems that hospital managers and technical managers of pharmacies should make several interventions in the field of staff empowerment and training empathy and teamwork skills. Also, strengthening the system of receiving quick and easy feedback from patients and paying attention to the voice of customers can pave the way for hospital managers and technical managers of pharmacies to enhance the service quality with subsequence reduction of the existing gaps.

STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING PATIENT SATISFACTION WITH QUALITY OF PHARMACY SERVICES AT FACULTY OF PHARMACY, HUE UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY HOSPITAL

Background: The study aims to develop a scale measuring the quality of pharmacy services and analyze the factors influcencing patient satisfaction with quality of pharmacy services at the outpatient drug dispensary. Subjects and methods: The tool to assess the satisfaction level and related factors were developed and explored through interviewing patients. Evaluate results through measurement and analysis methods. Results: The new reliable scale was constructed with 26 observed variables. The average patient satisfaction level is 3.90 ± 0.51 by using 5-point Likert scale. Five factors including: dispensing operation, facilities, professional qualifications, medications and staffs most affected patient satisfaction in descending order; explained by 55.3% of the variation in satisfaction among patients. Conclusions: A new scale has been developed to measure patient satisfaction of pharmacy services. Patients were satisfied with the quality of pharmacy services at the outpatient drug dispensary. Dispensing operation was the most important factor of patient satisfaction. Key words: quality of pharmacy services, patient satisfaction.

Enhancing the service quality of community pharmacies for non-prescription medicines based on the perspectives of pharmacists and patients: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Background Pharmacies in several countries are encountering a fierce competition from both local and international rivals, resulting in significant challenges in maintaining competitiveness and market share. Pharmacies are important locations for those seeking non-prescription medicines and are equipped to manage a wide variety of ailments. However, despite the large number of previous qualitative studies on the service quality of community pharmacies, very few studies have explored the service quality dimensions, specifically for non-prescription medications. In this study, we aimed to explore pharmacists’ and patients’ perception of potential pharmacy service quality for dispensing non-prescription medicines. Method Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit and select qualified pharmacists and patients in the major cities of Thailand. Multiple face-to-face and telephone interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed systematically using the interpretive method of content analysis. Results The participants reported several service attributes for dispensing of non-prescription medicines by community pharmacies. An analysis of the interviews revealed competence, communication, rapport, patient-centredness, and physical environment as the main themes related to service quality dimensions. Specifically, physical environment was categorized into two sub-themes, namely, hygiene and ambience. Conclusions Service quality dimensions of community pharmacies for non-prescription medications were supported by dyadic perspectives – pharmacist and patient perspectives. The findings of the study contribute to community pharmacy research by focusing on the potential dimensions of service quality, especially for non-prescription medicines.

HUBUNGAN ANTARA WAKTU TUNGGU PELAYANAN RESEP RACIKAN TERHADAP KEPUASAN PASIEN DI APOTEK MEDIRA FARMA KOTA BENGKULU BULAN APRIL TAHUN 2021

Pharmaceutical is a direct and responsible service to patients related to pharmaceutical preparations with the aim of achieving good results that are sure to improve the quality of life of patients. One of the quality of pharmacy services is waiting time. The purpose of this study was to see the relationship between waiting time for concoction prescription services and patient satisfaction at the Medira Farma Pharmacy, Bengkulu City in April 2021. This study used observational analytic method with astudy approach cross sectional. The research instrument is an observation sheet, the sample of this research is 30 respondents. The sample was determined using purposive sampling technique. Data analysis was carried out using the chi square statistical test.. The results of the study showed that the level of patient satisfaction at the Medira Farma Pharmacy was 86.67% satisfied and 13.33% dissatisfied, while the waiting time for concoction prescription services at Medira Farma Pharmacy was said to be in accordance with the standard of 73.33% and not according to the standard of 26 ,67%. In thestatistical test chi square , the p value = 0.257 with the value = 0.05. The results of the data can be concluded that there is no relationship between waiting time for concoction prescription services to patient satisfaction at the Medira Farma Pharmacy, Bengkulu City with a closeness level of 0.23 which means low. The advice given is that Medira Farma Pharmacy should provide comfortable and adequate waiting room facilities to avoid patients feeling bored.

Assessment of Patient’s Satisfaction about the Availability of Medicines at Hospital and Cost Affordability: A Study Protocol

Background: Consumer satisfaction towards pharmacy services is an essential instrument for measuring the quality of pharmacy services offered to patients and the distribution of pharmacy care in hospitals. The obstacles to better health care services are inadequate access to quality drugs, high drug rates, poor education and lack of access to qualified health professional. Patients who are happy with the pharmaceutical provider are more likely to take medications properly and are less likely to replace health care providers. High quality of pharmaceutical service is required in order to sustain a consistent relationship with patient needs. This study aims to assess the patient’s satisfaction about the pharmacy services, availability of drugs/medicines and its cost affordability at AVBR Hospital Wardha.&#x0D; Methodology: This will be a descriptive cross-sectional research conducted at AVBRH, Wardha. Patients will be randomly selected and structured questionnaire will be administered with patients and pharmacists. The collected data will be analysed with suitable statistical tests.&#x0D; Results: Result will reflect the patient satisfaction level with pharmacy services provided at hospital pharmacy and retail pharmacy of AVBRH.&#x0D; Conclusion: Conclusions will be drawn on careful analysis of results.

The Importance of the Pharmacist’s Role and the Quality of Pharmacy Services in Nursing Home Care

Abstract The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services requires nursing homes (NHs) to provide pharmacy services to ensure the safety of medication use, such as minimizing off-label medication use for residents with dementia. This study examined NH’s response to this requirement and its relationship to medication-related outcomes. The contemporaneous relationship between the quality of pharmacy services and outcome measures were modeled using facility-level longitudinal data from 2011-2017 and facility fixed-effects. The results revealed that deficiency in pharmacy services increased medication-related issues by: 11% in inappropriate medication regimen, 5% in medication error rate &amp;gt;5%, and 3% in any serious medication errors. Additionally, deficiency in pharmacy services was associated with small but statistically significant increases in antipsychotic use, residents with daily pain, number of hospitalizations and rehospitalization rate. The results suggest that pharmacy services have a direct and immediate impact on medication outcomes. The results underscore the importance of pharmacy services in NHs.

Assessing Patient Satisfaction with the Service Quality Provided in Community Pharmacies: Khartoum Locality, Sudan

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objectives:</strong> Due to the limited studies assessing community pharmacy services quality in Khartoum, this study is aimed to explore patients&rsquo; satisfaction level with pharmacist&rsquo;s communication, consulting and service delivery qualities. <strong>Methods:</strong> A descriptive institutional health facility-based prospective study was carried out at 229 Community pharmacies in Khartoum Locality using data collected by self-administrative question-naires from 385 respondents and then analysed by using SPSS version 25. <strong>Results:</strong> A total of 385 participants answered the questionnaire completely with a response rate of 90%. The majority of patients expressed high level of satisfaction in community pharmacy communication services (n&plusmn;SD=3.88&plusmn;1.10) though they were dissatisfied in &lsquo;time allocated to answer patient&rsquo;s questions (n&plusmn;SD=3.57&plusmn;1.11)&rsquo; and &lsquo;time allocated to prepare medications (n&plusmn;SD=3.70&plusmn;1.05)&rsquo;. Patients were fairly satisfied in pharmacist&rsquo;s consultation services quality (n&plusmn;SD=3.18&plusmn;1.30) but they showed lower satisfaction level in &lsquo;explaining on the possible side effects, and telling the precautions (e.g. activities to avoid.) (n&plusmn;SD=2.81&plusmn;1.37)&rsquo; and &lsquo;encouraging patients to raise questions about medication (n&plusmn;SD=2.81&plusmn;1.40)&rsquo; as well as the &lsquo;level of provided privacy (n&plusmn;SD=2.84&plusmn;1.23)&rsquo;. Services relating to delivery were associated with the worst experience and lowest level of patient satisfaction (n&plusmn;SD=2.77&plusmn;1.20). <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Patients were generally satisfied with pharmacist&rsquo;s communication quality but showed disappointment in consultation and the service delivery qualities. Services in Khartoum Locality community pharmacies are product-based with negligible patient participation. <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong> Key words:</strong> Community Pharmacy Services, Patient Counselling, Patient Satisfaction, Quality Assessment, Patient-Pharmacist Intercommunication, Medication Safety.

Analysis of an Effect Quality Pharmaceutical Services on the Satisfaction of Patients in Royal Prima Public Hospital Medan

Based on a predecessor survey conducted by researchers of 30 outpatients at the Royal Prima Medan Hospital in July 2019, it showed that out of 30 patients, 23 patients expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of service and availability of drugs at the Pharmacy Installation of the Royal Prima Medan General Hospital. Where the patient's satisfaction states that there is still a lack of direct evidence (tangibles), reliability, responsiveness, assurance (assurance), empathy, hospitals and employees of outpatients at Royal Prima Hospital, Medan. This paper described Knowing the Analysis of the Effect of Pharmacy Service Quality on Outpatient Satisfaction at the Royal Prima Medan General Hospital in 2019. There is an effect of the quality of pharmaceutical services (appearance, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) on outpatient satisfaction at Royal Prima Medan General Hospital. 2019. It is hoped that the pharmacy installation of the Royal Prima Medan General Hospital will improve the quality of services that are more optimal to achieve maximum patient satisfaction values. If the quality of pharmacy services at Royal Prima Medan General Hospital is improved, patient satisfaction will also increase. Keywords: Quality of Pharmacy Services and Patient Satisfaction.

Profession Driven Improvement of the Quality of Pharmacy Practice-Implementation of Community Pharmacy Services Quality Guidelines in Estonia.

Constant improvement of the quality of community pharmacy services is important in the development of contemporary patient care. A national and voluntary Community Pharmacy Services Quality Guidelines (CPSQG) was developed to formulate the principles of contemporary pharmacy services, including quality criteria for service provision. The purpose of this study was to identify the implementation of the CPSQG as a profession-driven initiative towards improving and harmonizing community pharmacy services in Estonia. Three cross-sectional electronic surveys were conducted among community pharmacies in Estonia in 2014 (N = 478 pharmacies), 2016 (N = 493), and 2019 (N = 494), and the CPSQG indicators were used for evaluation of the service quality. In this study, the aggregated data, collected in three study years were used to identify the implementation of guidelines into practice. For data analysis, the One-Way ANOVA test and Post-hoc multiple comparisons were used. The results demonstrated slow implementation of the CPSQG, but guidelines-based evaluation enabled a detailed overview of the community pharmacy activities and provided services. In order to develop community pharmacy services more efficiently, the use of implementation science principles, continuous introduction of the CPSQG to the pharmacists, and more active involvement of the state could be considered in the future.

Reduced emergency room visits and improved medication adherence of an integrated oncology pharmaceutical care practice in China.

We described our initial experience of a new integrated oncology phamaceutical care practice to enhance the quality of pharmacy service and patient care in Huashan hospital.Data sources: A retrospective study was performed from August 2019 to September 2020. Patients were described as integrated pharmacy service group and routine care group. Medication adherence of patients in integrated pharmacy service group was recorded by the online management system. Patient satisfaction and the cumulative incidence of emergency room (ER) and outpatient visit were evaluated between two groups.Data summary: In total, 323 patients received the integrating oncology pharmacy service. The percentage of the patients missing administration every day was reduced from 29.7% to 0.3% within a 40-day monitoring and intervention period. There was a significant difference on patient satisfaction with pharmacy service in two groups (P < 0.05). Fewer patients in the integrated pharmacy service group visited clinic and ER compared with routine care group (33.1% vs. 59.2%; P < 0.05). As a new practice model, the integrated program is adopted to provide patient care and ongoing monitoring for cancer patients. The practice model delivers high continuity of care for cancer patients and improves communication and collaboration between healthcare professionals and oncology patients. The practice also provides the potential of developing hospital pharmaceutical service and optimizing disease prevention and treatment strategies.

Patients’ perception of the outpatient pharmaceutical service quality in hospital pharmacies with auditable pharmaceutical transactions and services in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo ensure the availability of quality pharmaceutical products and effective pharmaceutical services, a package of interventions named auditable pharmaceutical transactions and services (APTS), was implemented in the tertiary and secondary...

Assessing the reporting quality of simulated patient studies in pharmacy research using a novel checklist (CRiSP).

Use of simulated patients (SP) to assess the quality of pharmacy services and impact of interventions is increasing. The CRiSP (Checklist for Reporting research using Simulated Patient methodology) checklist was recently developed, assisting researchers to report items necessary to meet a minimum agreed standard. To identify which CRiSP items were reported in SP studies for community pharmacy research, identify any gaps in reporting and describe the overall quality of reporting for the SP studies identified. Papers published during 2018-2020 using SP methodology in community pharmacy settings were identified from MEDLINE and Embase. The 50 most recent ones were selected. Data were extracted independently and in duplicate. Each paper received a coded numerical value denoting compliance with each item of CRiSP (1=yes, 2=no, 3=unclear, 4=not applicable, 5=partially complete). Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel and reported as frequencies and percentages of each code for the checklist items, across the 50 papers. No paper fulfilled all items in the CRiSP checklist. The mode(s) of delivery of SP assessments (item 17) was reported in all papers, while use of the term SP (item 1); number of SPs (4a); scenario details (9a); describing procedures12; data collection procedure (18); and ethics approval (23a) were reported in at least 80% of papers. Items not reported in over 50% of papers were: scenario development (8a), validation (8b) and flexibility (9b); materials used (10a) and copies of materials (10b); and procedures for SP identification (15). Researchers found interpretation of the checklist unclear and utilised working definitions to ensure consistency in coding. This review identified that pharmacy research involving SP methodology is often inadequately reported by researchers. The CRiSP checklist is a comprehensive tool to assess the quality of SP methodology reporting but may require some refinement to ensure consistency in use.

Exploring satisfaction level among outpatients regarding pharmacy facilities and services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; a large regional analysis.

BackgroundEvaluation of patients`satisfaction towards pharmacy services is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of care. It helps in identifying domains requiring improvements to provide high quality pharmacy services to ensure the provision of enhanced pharmaceutical care. The current study aims to ascertain the extent of satisfaction towards pharmacy services among patients attending outpatient pharmacies in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.MethodsA hospital-based cross-sectional study involving 746 patients attending outpatient pharmacies of various public hospitals was conducted from 01 January to 15 February 2020. Information on socio-demographic profile of the study subjects along with their satisfaction towards outpatient pharmacy was extracted by using a 23-items questionnaire. These questions were divided into two domains including 7 questions related to the pharmacy facilities (questions from 1F to 7F) and 8 questions for pharmacy services (questions from 1S to 8S), where F and S denotes facilities and services, respectively. The cumulative satisfaction score was estimated by a 5-item Likert scale with a maximum score of 5 for each item. The relationship between demographics and satisfaction scores was evaluated by using appropriate statistics.ResultsThere were 746 patients with male preponderance (58.8%). The overall satisfaction score was 2.97 ± 0.65. Satisfaction towards pharmacy services scored lower (mean score: 3.91 ± 0.77) than pharmacy facilities (mean score: 4.03 ± 0.66). Items related to patient`s counseling (3F, 2S, 3S, 6S) scored least during the analysis. Older patients (p = 0.006), male gender (p<0.001), Saudi nationality (0.035), patients attending primary care centers (p = 0.02), and patients with chronic illnesses were significantly associated with lower satisfaction score.ConclusionThis study reported that the satisfaction level of patients attending outpatient pharmacies was low and differed among various socio-demographic groups. Approximately one-half of the patients were not satisfied with outpatient pharmacy services. These findings underscore the dire need for managerial interventions including the hiring of trained professionals, onsite training of pharmacy staff, initiation of clinical or patient centered pharmacy services, evaluation of patient`s response towards the services and appropriate controlling measures, irrespective to the type of hospitals.