Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the content available on Facebook pharmacy groups in Jordan regarding the perception of the pharmacists’ role during the coronavirus pandemic in Jordan. Methods: Researchers identified Facebook pharmacy groups through the search engine on the Facebook website. The main search keywords were pharmacy, pharmacist, pharmacists, and Jordan using both Arabic and English. Two researchers analyzed the posts and discussion threads on local pharmacy Facebook groups in a period between March 20th and April 3rd. A total of 184 posts and threads were identified for the purpose of the study. Results: Identified threads and responses resulted in three overarching themes: pharmacists having a positive role during the pandemic, taking additional responsibilities and services, and having passive or negative roles. A positive role was seen in pharmacists acting as first-line healthcare providers, creating public’s awareness regarding COVID-19, and being responsible for chronic medication refill during the pandemic. Taking additional responsibilities was summarized in home deliveries and involvement in industrial and corporate efforts to deal with the pandemic. A passive/negative role was seen mostly among hospital pharmacists not being proactive during the pandemic and by pharmacists trying to maximize profits during pandemic time. Conclusions: Pharmacists perceived their role as a positive role during the coronavirus pandemic. Not only they took responsibilities for their daily services during the crises, but they took additional responsibilities to assure patient safety and satisfaction.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate how service quality and customer satisfaction are correlated to self-reported loyalty intentions in Islamic banks. The paper presents primary data collected by self-administered questionnaires involving a sample of 655 respondents from all local Islamic Banks in Jordan. The results show that compliance, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy positively linked to self-

Since December 2019, a viral outbreak has emerged in Wuhan city, Hubei province in China, which was caused by very contagious and rapidly spreading novel virus. 1 This virus was isolated and discovered by Chinese scientists on the 7th January 2020 2 and was termed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020. 3,4 COVID-19 has been reported as an extraordinary virus in its spreading rate where it has disseminated outstandingly, affecting many countries around the world in a short period of time, in an uncontrollable way. 5-7 There is also strong evidence that it can be transmitted by people with mild symptoms, pre-symptomatic or even asymptomatic. 8 As a consequence, to this serious outstanding situation, the WHO declared this viral outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on the 30th January 2020. 9 This necessitates a collaborative teamwork by all healthcare professionals to support in controlling this setting. 6 Pharmacists worldwide are integral part within the healthcare system and since the emergence of this viral outbreak they have experienced a challenging situation

Objectives This study aims to explore home-treated COVID-19 patients’ experiences and perceptions of pharmaceutical care services offered during their sickness. Methods This is a cross-sectional online questionnaire study, where a 30-item questionnaire was texted via a link to COVID-19 patients who were tested positive previously. A list of anonymised numbers was obtained from different COVID-19 testing centres. The study received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board at the King Abdulla University Hospital/Jordan University of Science and Technology. Key findings A total of 268 patients who were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 agreed to participate in this study. Only 22.9% of patients reported taking medications regularly. Almost one-third of respondents (28.7%) indicated that pharmacists were involved in prescribing medicine to patients. Almost half the respondents (49.6%) stated that they or their caregivers obtained information and advice about their medicine from the pharmacists. Only 54.9% of the respondents agreed/strongly agreed that pharmacists have enough scientific information to provide the necessary medical assistance to COVID-19 patients. Patients who work in the medical field, and who always get their medication from the same pharmacy, showed better perception towards pharmaceutical care services that might be provided to COVID-19 patients (P < 0.01). Conclusions Pharmacists had an unsatisfactory contribution to the management of the disease in outpatient settings. Moreover, there was a poor perception of the pharmacists’ role including their knowledge, communication skills and counselling skills. Thus, it is essential to improve pharmacists’ knowledge and practices about infectious diseases.

Objectives This study aimed to explore the experiences and views of domiciliary coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients towards pharmaceutical care services provided during their infection. Methods This was a single-centred observational study conducted among home-treated COVID-19 patients (n = 500), who were tested positive for COVID-19 in a medical centre in Lebanon. Key findings Out of the 500 home-treated COVID-19 patients invited to participate in the study, 279 patients completed the questionnaire. Although the participants had a good view of pharmacists caring for COVID-19 patients (mean view score: 17.79/25), their treatment experiences were unsatisfactory (mean experience score: 1.51/4). Conclusions COVID-19 patients reported minimal involvement of pharmacists in their treatment. Therefore, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare authorities should intervene in restructuring, guiding and reviewing unrealized new pharmaceutical services to COVID-19 outpatients.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of multidimensional service quality on word of mouth (WOM) in university on-campus healthcare centers.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from self-administered questionnaires involving a sample of 407 currently enrolled student-patients visiting the on-campus university healthcare centers in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Non-probability convenience sampling was performed in this study. Factor analysis and multiple and hierarchical multiple regression methods were used to analyze the data and test the proposed relationships.FindingsThe results show that the primary dimensions (administration quality, interpersonal quality and technical quality) had a significant and positive impact on WOM, with administration quality appearing as the most influential factor leading to WOM. At the subdimensions level, the findings of this study revealed that interaction activity had the most significant predictive value on WOM compared to the other service quality subdimensions. An insignificant relationship between atmosphere, tangibles, relationship activity and WOM was found.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that university administrators and managers of other high-contact service sectors (e.g. hospitality and travel services, tourism education services, financial and insurance services and public services) ought to take into consideration both service quality subdimensions and satisfaction as significant strategic endpoints, as these inputs provide a roadmap for administrators to elicit positive WOM from customers with regard to their businesses.Originality/valueThis study provided its contribution by presenting a comprehensive model of WOM formation and offering specific insights for the on-campus healthcare centers in higher education institutions. This is also the first study conducted in the Middle East, particularly in Jordan.

This study investigated the impact of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices on organizational commitment among pharmacists working in chain pharmacies in Jordan. The study was conducted across pharmacists of different levels in two chain pharmacies in Jordan. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to pharmacist working in two chain pharmacies in Jordan. Results found that training and development and reward system were positively and significantly impacted affective commitment; as well as both recruitment and selection and reward system were positively and significantly affected continuance commitment. However, no significant impact found between normative commitment and any of the suggested human recourse management practices. The results showed that the majority of the variables confirmed previous studies and the remaining minority did not support these studies due to factors such as culture, values, and the nature of health care practice. The results have a great implication for the pharmacy business sector in Jordan.

PurposeThe overall objective of this research is to “explore whether shock advertising has a long-lasting positive effect on the smoking cessation among smoking Jordanians in a country where smoking is a deep-rooted social norm.”Design/methodology/approachThis research is an exploratory qualitative research. A purposeful sampling technique was used to select participants from a mall intercept and randomly divided into groups of seven. Each group was interviewed in two different focus group sessions (four weeks apart). All focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis.FindingsA total of 41 participants took part in the focus group session. Most participants were smokers or second-hand smokers. “Three overarching themes were generated from the focus groups: previous anti-smoking campaign experience, shock advertising (SA) impact and drawbacks of SA. All participants reported that they have never been exposed to shocking adverts, and the shock appeal has never been applied in any of the anti-smoking or health awareness campaigns in Jordan. This research revealed that incorporating images of children with a mixture of emotional and fear appeals is effective in targeting Jordanian parents' negative consumptive behaviors, which may harm other individuals, especially children. Moreover, most participants commented that the effects of shock adverts would be very short term and would not likely change behaviors”.Originality/valueThis research contributes both “theoretically and practically to the value and effectiveness of shock advertising. This research area is overlooked in MENA countries, particularly Jordan”.