ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess the level of satisfaction with pharmacy services and whether satisfaction/dissatisfaction had any effect on two common chronic diseases. Proper control of chronic diseases requires a management regime which includes promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services through primary, secondary and tertiary preventive intervention measures and a wide range of support services.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with both quantitative and qualitative components was designed to collect data from among all diabetic and hypertensive patients (n = 150) attending 3 health centres in the parish of St Thomas on the days that data were being collected. The questionnaires were interviewer administered. Qualitative data were obtained from focus group discussions which explored themes related to the objectives.

Results: Though there was overall satisfaction with the pharmacy services studied, the level of control of the two diseases was unsatisfactory.There was no relationship between hypertension control and satisfaction with pharmacy services while the relationship with diabetes mellitus control was limited to a very weak negative association with the rating of the pharmacists’ instructions on how to take the prescribed medications.

Conclusion: “Satisfactory Pharmacy Services” could be improved by the employment of additional staff, improvement in how drugs are stocked, greater availability of generic drugs and more utilization of health cards.