impact of outsourcing the pharmaceutical services on outpatients1 satisfaction in Lorestan rural health centers

ABSTRACT

The pharmaceutical services in Rural Health Centers [RHCs], plays a crucial role to promote the Iranian people health. Aligning with health reforms, the outsourcing approaches on medicinal services have been run, recently. The aim of this study was to determine whether the outsourcing approach in RHCs' pharmacies comparison with the governmental approach has been effective on patients' satisfaction. This study is a quasi-experimental post-test only, including a control group. All of 19 RHCs with outsourced pharmacies and also 19 randomly selected RHCs in governmental pharmacies sector considered as an intervention and control groups, respectively. Outpatients' satisfaction data were collected through interview by using a 6-items questionnaire. To data analyzing Excel 2003 and SPSS ver. 16 software were employed. The overall mean satisfaction from pharmaceutical services of outsourced and non-outsourced [i.e. governmental] pharmacies were 5.28 and 5.75 points [out of maximum 6 points] respectively [p<0.001]. Inadequate time taken to outpatient consults by pharmacies' staff was the most common factor which associated with dissatisfaction. The approach of outsourcing RHCs' pharmacies, despite its promise to positive effect on quality of care, might be failed the users' satisfaction. Thus, essential arrangements like comprehensive and detailed contracts should be provided. Meanwhile, effective mechanisms such as monitoring and evaluation should be considered