ABSTRACT
Purpose: To explore the patient satisfaction of pharmacy ambulatory care services at the Emergency Hospital in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a 4-month cross-sectional survey of patients’ satisfaction of ambulatory care pharmacy services at the Emergency Hospital, Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of 48 questions divided into two parts: the first part collects demographic information and the second part contains questions on 11 domains: (1) medication availability (2) patient counseling (3) pharmacist and patient relationship (4) medication reconciliation (5) medication aberrance (6) pharmacy location (7) pharmacy-waiting area (8) pharmacy communications (9) pharmacy-waiting time (10) pharmacy recommends to others (11) overall patient satisfaction of pharmacy services. The survey was distributed to the Emergency Hospital in Riyadh city, included public, pediatrics and emergency hospitals ambulatory care patient. The study was in an electronic format and it analyze through the survey monkey system. Results: A total of 202 patients responded to the survey. Of those, 144 (71.6%) was Saudi and 57 (28.4%) was non-Saudi. The gender distribution 105 (52%) were females and 97 (48%) were males. The majority of them were in age group of 18-44 years (62%), while more than 44 years old was 68 (33.7%). The highest level of education was high school 81 (40.3%) followed by the Bachelor’s degree 51 (25.4%) and an intermediate school 44 (21.9%). The mean [±standard deviation (SD)] waiting time to get the medications was 19.36±11.02 (minute). The average scores of domains medication availability was 3.71, patient counseling was 3.48, pharmacist and patient relationship were 4.1 and medication reconciliation was 1.99. The medication adherence was 1.88, pharmacy location was 4.13, the pharmacy-waiting area was 3.31, pharmacy communications was 2.18, pharmacy-waiting time was 3.74 and pharmacy recommends to others was 3.69. The General evaluation of pharmacy services was found to be very good to excellent with 155 (76.7%) of responders, while 186 (92.1%) responders recommend the pharmacy to their family or friends and 176 (88.44%) responders prefer to revisit pharmacy. Conclusion: More than half of the patients were satisfied with ambulatory care pharmacy services at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Medication reconciliation, medication adherence and pharmacy communication domains were not found to be satisfied. Refining ambulatory care pharmacy services will avoid drug misadventures, avoid extra cost and surge patient satisfaction with pharmacy services.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The ambulatory pharmacy practice is a crucial part of the healthcare system that delivers pharmaceutical care to the patients who are not admitted to the hospital. The aim of the study to explore the patient satisfaction of ambulatory care pharmacy services in Pediatrics and Maternity Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a 4-month cross-sectional survey of patient satisfaction of ambulatory care pharmacy services in Pediatrics and Maternity Hospital, Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of forty-eight (48) questions divided into two parts: the first part collects demographic information and the second part contains questions on 11 domains: (1) medication availability, (2) patient counseling, (3) pharmacist and patient relationship, (4) medication reconciliation, (5) medication aberrance, (6) pharmacy location, (7) pharmacy waiting area, (8) pharmacy communications, (9) pharmacy waiting time, (10) pharmacy recommends to others, (11) overall patient satisfaction of pharmacy services. The survey was distributed to the hospitals in Riyadh city, included pediatrics and maternity hospitals ambulatory care patient. The survey was in an electronic format and it analyze the results through the Survey Monkey system. Results: A total of 237 patients responded to the survey. Out of 237 patients, 217 (91.6%) was Saudi and 20 (8.4%) was non-Saudi. There were 151 (63.7%) female and 86 (36.3%) male responders. Most of them were in age group of 18-44 years (70%) without any significant differences in the age groups among the hospitals. The highest level of education was high school 91 (38.4%) followed by the Bachelor’s degree 93 (39.2%) and an intermediate school 44 (18.6%). The mean [±standard deviation (SD)] waiting time to get the medications was 13.6±4.75 min. The average scores of domains 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were 3.11, 3.1, 3.61, 1.87, 1.72, 3.4, 2.77, 1.93, 3.68 and 3.56, respectively. With a total of 231 (97.4%) responders, general evaluation of pharmacy services was found to be very good to excellent, whereas 228 (96.2%) responders recommend the pharmacy to their family or friends and 224 (95.3%) responders prefer to revisit pharmacy. Conclusion: More than two-thirds of the patients were pleased with ambulatory care pharmacy services at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Medication reconciliation, medication adherence and pharmacy waiting area domains were not found to be satisfied. Improving ambulatory care pharmacy services will avert drug misadventures, avoid additional cost and surge patient satisfaction with pharmacy services.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: To explore the patient satisfaction of ambulatory care services at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a 4-month cross-sectional survey of patient satisfaction of ambulatory care pharmacy services at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of 48 questions divided into two parts: the first part collects demographic information and the second part contains questions on 11 domains: (1) medication availability, (2) patient counseling, (3) pharmacist and patient relationship, (4) medication reconciliation, (5) medication aberrance, (6) pharmacy location, (7) pharmacy waiting area, (8) pharmacy communications, (9) pharmacy waiting time, (10) pharmacy recommends to others and (11) overall patient satisfaction of pharmacy services. The survey was distributed to the three hospitals in Riyadh city, included public, pediatrics and emergency hospitals ambulatory care patient. The survey was in an electronic format and it analyze the results through the Survey Monkey system. Results: A total of 606 patients responded to the survey. There were 338 (55.8%) female and 268 (44.2%) male responders. Most of them were in age group of 18–44 years (65.3%) without any statistically significant differences in the age groups among the three hospitals (p<0.5). The highest level of education was high school (232 (38.4%)) followed by the Bachelor’s degree (191 (31.6%)) and an intermediate school (117 (19.4%)). Most of the patients visited the ambulatory care pharmacy 3 to 4 times in the past 12 months (239 (41.1%)), whereas the others (105 (18.1%)) visited the ambulatory care pharmacy for the first time. The mean (±standard deviation (SD)) waiting time to get the medications was 18.36±11.32 min and there were statistically significant differences among the three hospitals (p<0.5). The average scores of domains 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were 3.35, 3.2, 3.7 and 1.96, 1.8, 3.7, 3.25, 2.14, 3.61, 3.54, respectively. With a total of 381 (62.87%) responders, general evaluation of pharmacy services was found to be very good to excellent, whereas 369 (60.9%) responders recommend the pharmacy to their family or friends and 315 (52.5%) responders prefer to revisit pharmacy. Conclusion: More than half of the patients were satisfied with ambulatory care pharmacy services at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Medication reconciliation, medication adherence and pharmacy communication domains were not found to be satisfied. Improving ambulatory care pharmacy services will prevent drug misadventures, avoid additional cost and increase patient satisfaction with pharmacy services.