Pharmacy patrons' awareness of pharmacists' education and routine patient care responsibilities

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the similarities between pharmacists' and pharmacy patrons' views of pharmacists' roles and to explore the extent to which persons actually see pharmacists assuming certain roles. Method: Cross-sectional survey was administered to pharmacists and patients who were filling prescriptions or seeking nonprescription medications in 9 community pharmacies in Morgantown, West Virginia. The survey assessed 11 routine patient care services. Main outcome measures include opinions of pharmacists and patients about responsibility for providing 11 routine care services and the extent to which these services are provided. Results: Pharmacists and patients had similar opinions about services that pharmacists should provide for 7 of the 11 services evaluated. For the other 4 items for which opinions were divergent, the mean scores for the extent to which pharmacists provide these services indicated that pharmacists do not always provide these services. Conclusion: Pharmacy patrons might not attribute certain patient-related functions to pharmacists because pharmacists do not frequently perform these routine care-related services in actual practice.