engleski

A comparation of patient attitudes towards community pharmacies in Poland and in England

Pharmaceutical care has been found to improve patients health status and reduce healthcare. However, it is still not implemented in some European countries, including Poland. This study aimed to investigate the patients' satisfaction, expectations and the use of services provided in pharmacies in Poland and England. Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to community pharmacies in Poland and England between January and August 2011. The questionnaire consisted of 31 questions, gathered demographic data and patientsí views on different aspects of pharmaceutical services. The internal consistency of the survey and validation had been assessed prior to use. Questionnaires were collected from a total of 823 subjects. Considerably more English than Polish patients were interviewed by a pharmacist about symptom characteristics (77.9% vs. 52.5%), their duration (70.5% vs. 41.5%), taking other medications (81.9% vs. 45.3%), and comorbidities (69.2% vs. 38.6%, p = 0.0001 each) when purchasing OTC drugs. 59.3% of patients in Poland compared with 91.3% of patients in England declared to have filled all the prescriptions (p < 0.001). Patients in England more frequently consulted pharmacists about conditions, whereas in Poland respondents preferred self-treatment or GP advice. Expectations for additional services, including: estimation of blood glucose (83.1% vs. 80.4% in Poland and England respectively, p = 0.3228), cholesterol (84.6% vs. 83.3%, p = 0.6146), or blood pressure measurements (85.5% vs. 85.9%, p = 0.8635), were similar in both countries. The range and quality of services provided in community pharmacies in Poland are substantially worse in comparison with those in England. Patients expectations in both countries bear similarities

community pharmacy, healthcare, pharmaceutical care

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