Satisfaction among patients and caregivers receiving value-added services during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in a tertiary hospital in the Perak state of Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Patient satisfaction was used as an indicator of service quality in the public hospitals. The pharmacy value-added services (VAS) were intensified after the COVID-19 outbreak, and evaluation of user's satisfaction was important for service improvement. Methods: This was a single-centre, cross-sectional, web-based study in the outpatient pharmacy in a tertiary hospital in the Perak state of Malaysia. Patients and caregivers aged 18 years and above, received at least one prescription refill using the pharmacy VAS from April to September 2020, were included. The questionnaire was adapted from a validated tool, underwent face and content validation before dissemination. The link was disseminated to the targeted population through short messages service (SMS). Key findings: Out of 1200 invited people, 303 agreed to participate. Majority of the respondents were male (160, 52.8%), Chinese (156, 51.5%), with tertiary education (201, 66.3%) and retiree (112, 37.0%). Out of a maximum score of 5, the overall mean satisfaction score was 4.42 (SD 0.55). The respondents were most agreeable to time-saving benefits of the pharmacy VAS (4.56 +/- 0.63). Majority of the respondents felt that pharmacy VAS had made their life easier (290, 95.7%) and planned to recommend the pharmacy VAS to others (292, 96.4%) Respondents aged more than 60 (versus age 18-35, beta = 2.375, P < 0.001) and those who used drive-through service (versus SPUB, beta = 2.272, P = 0.001) reported higher satisfaction scores. Several suggestions were made for service improvement, including longer operating hours (18, 6.0%), upgraded communication system (9, 3.0%), smoother registration process (9, 3.0%), more polite staff (9, 3.0%), selection of preferred postage delivery time (6, 2.0%) and promotion of VAS (4, 1.3%) Conclusions: Majority of the respondents were highly satisfied towards the pharmacy VAS. Future studies should compare the satisfaction of VAS with traditional counter service to compare the level and factors that contributed to the users' satisfaction.