| مستخلص: |
aiman,2 Maryam A Albader,2 Wejdan A Alhejji,2 Fawaz M Alotaibi,3 Ibrahim M Asiri,3 Sawsan M Kurdi,3 Mohammed M Alsultan,3 Bassem A Almalki,3 Khalid A Alamer31Pharmacy Practice Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Pharmacy intern, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Pharmacy Practice Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Correspondence: Mansour M Alotaibi, Pharmacy Practice Department, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, 31982, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Email [email protected] Background: The Saudi Community pharmacy sector has been changing towards patient-centred care rather than depending solely on dispensing medications. Accordingly, pharmacies can now provide many services that they previously could not offer. The aims of this study were to identify all pharmacy services provided in a community setting and to assess public awareness and utilization of and satisfaction with these services. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which the authors first purposively visited community pharmacies to identify the services offered. Pharmacists were asked about pharmacy services currently provided to community. Fieldnotes were used to document pharmacists' responses. After identifying pharmacy services, a questionnaire was desgined and reviewed by experts in the field, piloted and approved by the Ethics Committee at King Faisal University, then disseminated via Google Forms. The satisfaction level with pharmacy services was assessed using a five-point Likert scale. Data were collected from 24 January 2023 to 2 March 2023. Results: Eighteen community pharmacies offering 17 different services were visited across Alahsa Governorate. The number of participants who completed the questionnaire was 350. Of those (232 [66.3%]) were female, and the majority of the sample (80.5%) were younger than 40 years old. The majority of the participants were unaware of pharmacy services. Out of 17 services, six received a score of 50% or higher regarding participant awareness. The most utilized services were the medication dispensing service "Wasfaty" (250 [71.4%]), medication counselling provided by pharmacists (232 [66.3%]) and minor ailment service (231 [66%]). The overall satisfaction score for pharmacy services was 87.2%. Conclusion: The majority of the participants were unaware of the full range of available pharmacy services. There is a potential for community pharmacists to fill the capacity gap in the healthcare system since, overall, the participants rated the pharmacies' clinical services as satisfactory. Commissioners of pharmacy services may consider extending the scope of community pharmacies to include services that best utilize the expertise of clinical pharmacists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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