Perception of patients towards the role of pharmacist: a cross-sectional study from selected three hospitals in Central Nepal

Abstract

Objectives To determine the perception of patients towards pharmacist and factors affecting their choice of pharmacy in hospitals of central Nepal. Methods A prospective cross‐sectional study was conducted among outpatients (n = 400) of three different purposively selected hospitals of Bharatpur, Nepal, using a systematic random sampling technique. Information on socio‐demographic features, patient's description about pharmacist, frequency of interaction with pharmacist, reason for interaction, factors affecting the choice of pharmacy and patient's perception towards the role of pharmacist were collected. Descriptive statistics were calculated and chi‐squared test was used to determine the association of patient's perception and factors influencing choice of pharmacy with socio‐demographic variables. Key findings Of 400 participants, majority (45.5%) believed that pharmacists have knowledge and information about medicines and their use. Most patients (213, 53.3%) interacted rarely with pharmacist, and most common reasons for interaction were queries about drug dosage (242, 60.5%) and drug availability (110, 27.5%). The overall perception of patients towards the role and responsibilities of pharmacist was positive, and most of the perception was associated with socio‐demographic variables. Efficient communication (399, 99.7%) and appropriate counselling on side effects (397, 99.2%) were two major factors that determined the selection of pharmacy by the patients. Conclusion The overall perception of patients towards pharmacist was positive in central Nepal. However, misconceptions still persist. Selection of pharmacy in our setting was mainly based on effective communication and proper counselling on side effects.

Patients’ Perceptions on Community Pharmacy Services of a Ward (10) of Kathmandu Metropolitan

“… 5 Patients need to perceive the pharmacists positively so that they can provide effective pharmaceutical services to the patient. 6 …”

Awareness, expectation and satisfaction towards ward pharmacy services among patients in medical wards: a multi-centre study in Perak, Malaysia

“…Better understanding of pharmacist's roles and responsibilities is important to enhance pharmacist-patient relationship and patients' satisfaction towards pharmacy services [9]. Previous studies reported varied degree of dissatisfaction towards the services provided by hospital pharmacists, which suggested the need for further quality improvement [10][11][12][13].…”