Patient Preference and Adherence (Jan 2023)

Assessing Patient Satisfaction with Community Pharmacy Services: A Large Regional Study at Punjab, Pakistan

  • Alanazi AS,
  • Shah S,
  • Abbas G,
  • Hussain M,
  • Saleem A,
  • Khurram H,
  • Chand UR,
  • Mallhi TH,
  • Khan YH,
  • Ilyas K,
  • Tariq S,
  • Jamil A,
  • Alzarea AI,
  • Alzarea SI

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 13 – 22

Abstract

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Abdullah Salah Alanazi,1 Shahid Shah,2 Ghulam Abbas,3 Musaddique Hussain,4 Ammara Saleem,5 Haris Khurram,6 Usman Rashid Chand,2 Tauqeer Hussain Mallhi,1 Yusra Habib Khan,1 Kainat Ilyas,2 Savaira Tariq,2 Abdullah Jamil,2 Abdulaziz Ibrahim Alzarea,1 Sami Ibrahim Alzarea7 1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Al-Jouf Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 3Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 4Faculty of Pharmacy, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan; 5Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 6National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Chiniot-Faisalabad Campus, Chiniot, Pakistan; 7Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Al-Jouf, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Shahid Shah; Ghulam Abbas, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Patient satisfaction can be used to assess the quality of services provided at pharmacies. Our aim was to determine the level of patient satisfaction with pharmacy services and related factors at community pharmacies located in Punjab, Pakistan.Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2021 to July 2021 by administering the questionnaire to the patients using stratified random sampling method. Survey instrument comprised 4 sections including demographics, satisfaction towards provision of facilities, the provision of information, their accessibility to patients, the relationship between pharmacists and patients and the continuity of care provided. Categorical data were represented by percentages. Descriptive statistics were calculated for satisfaction scores. Simple and multiple logistic regression models were used to find the odds ratios. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Response rate of the survey was 92%. Only 30% of patients agreed that the pharmacist was available for counseling on their visit. About 52% agreed that the counseling time provided by pharmacist was enough. Most of the pharmacy patients (61%) trusted the pharmacist regarding any query about medicine and were satisfied with the way the pharmacist resolved issues. Mean satisfaction score of the pharmacy patients was 45.75 with a range of 25 (highly satisfied) to 66 (highly dissatisfied).Conclusion: The provision of community pharmacy services to patients was not satisfactory. Furthermore, the absence of pharmacist in the pharmacy and the lack of provision for counseling time raised concerns.Keywords: pharmacies, pharmacists, community pharmacy services

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