https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1693-0240
Abstract
Background
An evaluation of patient satisfaction with service provided in the health care system has been globally recognized as the measure of health care service quality. However, there is a lack of research findings that indicate patient satisfaction with newly implemented patient-oriented pharmaceutical care (PC) service provided by clinical pharmacists in Ethiopia. Therefore, the current study is aimed to determine the level of patient satisfaction and associated factors with PC service provided by clinical pharmacists in the Southwestern Ethiopia.
Methodology
A facility-based cross-sectional study design was employed among patients admitted to Medical wards in Jimma University Medical Center (JUMC) (n=219) from May to June 2021. The pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire containing structured questions on a 5-point Likert scale was appropriately completed and returned for statistical analysis. For the analysis of data, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used. The associations between status of patient satisfaction and predictors were determined at 5% (p<0.05) level of significance by employing multivariate logistic regression.
Results
The current study revealed that more than half (56%) of the respondents were satisfied with clinical pharmacy service. From 30% of drug therapy problems (DTPs) reported, non-adherence was the most prevalent (11.4%), while the dose being too low and adverse effects (0.9%) were the least reported. Moreover, the assignment particular clinical pharmacist (AOR: 2.091, 95% CI: 1.028, 4.255), previous admission (AOR: 0.459, 95% CI: 0.244, 0.86), number of medications taken per day (AOR: 1.929, 95% CI: 1.996, 3.739) and length of hospital stay (AOR: 2.236, 95% CI: 1.124, 4.446) were significantly associated with patient satisfaction.
Conclusion
The present study revealed that patient satisfaction towards PC was low. Lack of specific clinical pharmacist assignment, previous history of admission, number of medications taken per day and length of hospital stay are revealed as the major factors affecting the level of satisfaction. In addition, current findings implicate that clinical pharmacist collaboration with a multidisciplinary team is essential to increase patient satisfaction.
Abbreviations
DTP, Drug Therapy Problem; JUMC, Jimma University Medical Center; PC, Pharmaceutical Care; WHO, World Health Organization.
Data Sharing Statement
The documents supporting this study will be available upon request from the corresponding author.
Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
The Helsinki declarations were followed for undertaking this study. Institutional review board of Jimma University, School of Pharmacy (Reference Number, IoH/SoP/04/2021) approved the study. A letter of permission was received from the Office of Chief Executive Officer of Jimma University Medical Center. The written informed consent of the study participants was taken prior to interviews for collection of data. The withdrawal right of study participants from involvements of study at any time was assured.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to extend the heartfelt gratitude to all study respondents for accepting invitation to be involved in this study.
Author Contributions
Both authors contributed to data analysis, drafting or revising the article, gave final approval of the version to be published, agreed to the submitted journal, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.