Satisfaction of clients with the services of an outpatient pharmacy at a university hospital in northwestern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Evaluation of patient/client satisfaction with pharmacy services as a crucial part of the health services through appropriate studies is important. This will help identify specific areas of the service which need improvement in realizing high quality pharmacy services in general and enhance the positive changes in the current pharmaceutical services provision in Ethiopia. The current study aimed at assessing the level of client satisfaction with the services of the outpatient pharmacy of Gondar University Referral Hospital (GURH) in northwestern Ethiopia. METHODS An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted involving 400 clients who had prescriptions/orders filled at the outpatient pharmacy of the hospital during the period of 5th to 25th of November 2013. The data on the level of satisfaction of clients with the services of the outpatient pharmacy in the hospital was collected using a structured interview guide adopted from an instrument translated into Amharic and validated. The data collected was entered into and analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. RESULTS The overall mean score the respondents gave to satisfaction with the pharmaceutical services was 2.48 out of a maximum of 5.00 score. The mean scores for all the individual parameters rated were less than 3.00. Maximum mean scores were given for parameters asking about the promptness of prescription medication service (2.99), and professionalism of the pharmacy staff (2.96) with the lowest being scored for information given to clients about the storage of medication (1.25), and explanations of possible side effects (1.27). Clients who were served free of fee recorded significantly higher level of satisfaction than those who paid. Higher levels of satisfaction were also reported among illiterates, older adults and those with no job compared to those with higher education, merchants and government employees. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that the overall mean satisfaction level of clients of the outpatient pharmacy was low and it differed among different socio-demographic characteristics. Further research in to the reasons behind the low satisfaction should be done to provide appropriate solutions to improve the service.