Objective To investigate the quality of the smoking cessation advice on over‐the‐counter (OTC) nicotine replacement treatment (NRT) provided by community and hospital pharmacies in Norway and to assess any change in customer services and pharmaceutical smoking cessation advice after a change in legislation deregulating NRT from pharmacy‐only to general sale. Method A mystery shopper made 106 visits to 53 pharmacies in Oslo, Norway. The first visit was when NRT was a pharmacy‐only medicine and the second when it had become available from any outlet as a general sales product. The pharmacies were scored on 12 observation parameters regarding customer service and pharmaceutical advice (score 0–4, total possible score was 48). Key findings There was considerable inter‐ and intra‐pharmacy variation in scores. The pharmacies' total score ranged from 3 to 45. On only 14.2% of the visits was the service categorised as ‘Good’. There was no statistically significant difference in total score between the two test periods (P = 0.56), and hence no measurable difference in customer services and pharmaceutical advice as a result of increased competition after the switch to general sale. A scatter plot showed no relationship between the individual pharmacies' total score at the two visits. Conclusions Pharmacies' scores for the quality of their smoking cessation advice were generally low. There was no measurable change in pharmacies' customer service and pharmaceutical advice following the deregulation of NRT. There was little consistency in the total score between the first and the second visit to the same pharmacy. Improvement is needed in the smoking cessation advice provided by Norwegian pharmacies.
During the summer of 1993, a social anthropologist carried out non-participating observations in two pharmacies in Oslo, Norway, in order to describe the communication and interaction between the customers and the pharmacy staff. The ways the personnel encountered their customers varied in a striking way. Few indicators could be relied upon in predicting staff behaviour. Informational interaction did occur between customers and staff, but this practice did not seem to be systematic with regard to rules or routines. In the cases of customerinitiated questioning, the customer seemed to be taken good care of. The observations made in this study highlight three important features of pharmacy: a lack of control of admission, the transactional nature of the interaction between customer and staff and a lack of systematic approach for serving customers with particular needs. The quality and content of the information and interaction did not seem to be dependent on the physical layout of the pharmacy. It also seemed more dependent on the personal characteristics of the staff member concerned than on his or her formal competence, and dependent on when, during opening hours, the interaction took place. These features should be taken into account when more standardised routines are implemented for serving pharmacy customers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.