Perceptions Of Professional Expectations About Pharmaceutical Services Among Patients And Pharmacists

Abstract

Background: Over the past decades, the pharmacist’s role has changed from being ‘compounders and dispensers' to one of ‘medication therapy manager’ providing pharmaceutical care (PC). The transformation of pharmacy practice and its benefits, however, seem to be poorly understood by patients and caregivers (consumers) even in advanced health systems. Implementation of pharmaceutical services by applicable standards strongly supports the role of pharmacists in realizing quality pharmacy services; so that the pharmacist is required to build professional exp[1]ectations in value based on competence and communication skills. The study aims: To analyze the professional perceptions of patients and pharmacists towards pharmacy services in pharmacies. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional with a quantitative approach was used in KSA; a total of 155 pharmacists and 610 patients from January to July 2022. The method of data analysis is performed descriptively to look at the characteristics and perceptions of respondents regarding competence and communication skills using univariate analysis with SPSS version 28, as further described in the narrative. Results: show that as much as 95% of pharmacists already have good competence, and 94% have good communication skills. The patient's perception of the pharmacist's competency and communication skills is good, respectively (94% and 90%). Conclusion: suggests that the professional expectations of patients and pharmacists in pharmacy services are good, but the communication skills of the pharmacist need to be improved further.