Community Pharmacy Services, Pharmacy Attendance and patients' Satisfaction in the Southern Region of Jordan: A Community-Based study

Background: Patient satisfaction is a vital parameter that helps the decision makers to assess the quality of provided health care services and identifying the different factors that are responsible for sustainability of these services. Objectives: This study aimed to identify the reasons for community pharmacy attendance, evaluate patients' satisfaction regarding pharmaceutical services provided by community pharmacies in the southern cities of Jordan and identify the factors that affect the satisfaction. Material and method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 3 months. The participants (n=1000) were picked randomly from patients who were more than 18 years old and attended the randomly selected community pharmacies (n=40) in the southern cities of Jordan. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20.0. Patients' satisfaction was measured using a three-point Likert scale. An independent sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to assess the impact of demographic factors on the degree of satisfaction. The statistical significance was considered at p<0.05. Results: A total of 1000 patients participated in this study. The majority of respondents (68.3%) were female. Approximately half of the respondents 48.2% reported that they are fairly healthy. Respondents attended a pharmacy for purchasing prescribed medications (70.7%) and they showed hesitation in receiving new services such as a smoking cessation program (5.1%). Patients in the southern cities of Jordan showed a moderate level of satisfaction regarding overall provided services with a mean score (2.23 out of 3), which is equal to 74.3%. The patients were dissatisfied with the lack of patient privacy with a mean score (1.32 out of 3) and the educational level of the pharmacy staff with a mean score (1.52out of 3). Conclusion: In South Jordan, patients attended community pharmacies to receive traditional services and they hesitated to receive new services. Patients were moderately satisfied with community pharmacy services, and they expected much from pharmacists. Demographic characteristics were not the factors that affected patients' satisfaction.