[HIV-infected patients' perceived satisfaction with an outpatient pharmaceutical care unit (OPCU)].
BACKGROUND
Satisfaction measurements attempt to establish patient views regarding health care. In the setting of pharmaceutical care, the measurements of the generically called "h umanistic"variables is scarce, and the number of validated instruments is inadequate. The goal of this study is to present a specifically-developed satisfaction survey regarding outpatient pharmaceutical care units, and to prove its applicability and inner consistency in a HIV-infected patient population on antiretroviral therapy.


METHODS
The survey includes 19 questions within four groups - A. The unit's physical space, location, and organization; B. Dispensation; C. Pharmaceutical consultation, and D. Overall satisfaction with the unit. Each question is scored from 1 to 5. The study was carried out by administering 250 surveys to consecutive patients arriving at the OPCU, Castell6n General Hospital.


RESULTS
Responses show a high degree of patient satisfaction with questions posed, with mean values oscillating between 3.0 and 4.8. The highest means corresponded to pharmacist valuation, and the lowest values corresponded to questions within the organizational module. All questions considered, the mean score obtained was 3.96 + 0.95 (median of 4). The survey exhibited high internal reproducibility both for each group and all questions.


CONCLUSIONS
The satisfaction survey discussed here is an accessible, easy-to-use instrument that may be rapidly completed and used in pharmaceutical care units with outpatients as a measurement of patient satisfaction. The high scores HIV-infected patients assign to questions included in the survey suggest a benefit from standardized pharmaceutical care.
Ventura Cerdá
J M
JM
Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital General de Castellón, Castellón, Spain. ventura_jma@gva.es
Sanfélix Gimeno
G
G
Monte Boquet
E
E
Fernández Villalba
E M
EM
Alós Almiñana
M
M
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents