Customers' expectations and satisfaction with a pharmacy not providing advanced cognitive services.
OBJECTIVE
To assess customers' expectations and satisfaction with a community pharmacy which does not provide advanced professional cognitive services (APCS).


METHODS
A non-validated questionnaire was designed; the questionnaire included items on expectations with pharmacy services and on satisfaction with the existing services. An independent interviewer was appointed to survey people leaving the pharmacy; the questionnaire was administered on two randomly chosen days.


RESULTS
The mean age of respondents (n=61) was 46 years. Expectations: The most highly ranked item was "Drug available in the pharmacy" (4.97 on a 5-point Likert scale), followed by "Having queries and questions about health problems answered" (4.84). People found it easy "To seek advice on health problems or about medicines from the pharmacist at the counter" (4.48). The lowest ranked item was "reduced waiting time" (3.13). The overall Satisfaction with pharmacy services was high (4.89).


CONCLUSIONS
Customers reported a high level of satisfaction in a pharmacy where advanced cognitive services were not available. However, this should not discourage pharmacists from implementing APCS, because patients' expectations are based only on experiences with current distributive services, which fulfill their perceived needs.
Gastelurrutia
Miguel Angel
MA
Community Pharmacy, Paseo de Larratxo, 98, San Sebastián, Guipuzcoa, 20017, Spain. magastelu@medynet.com
de San Vicente
Olatz Gil
OG
Erauncetamurgil
Olaia
O
Odriozola
Igor
I
Fernández-Llimós
Fernando
F
D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010595:Pharmacists; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists