Importance and Awareness of the Good Pharmacy Practice from Drugstore Clients’ Perspectives

Abstract

Objective: To explore the importance and awareness of the Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) standard among drugstore clients. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional survey using an online questionnaire consisting of 3-point scales for importance and awareness of the GPP (very important, not very important, and not important for importance scale and fully aware, partially aware, and not aware for awareness scale). The subjects were clients using drugstore services in the previous two years. The survey through the Google Form conducting during June 20^th and July 20^th 2021 was distributed in Facebook public groups and Line public groups. Results: There were 388 clients completing the questionnaire. Majority of subjects were female (76.3%) with median age of 29 years (IQR: 23 – 40 years). Proportion of clients rating “critical defect” standards (CDS) in the GPP as very important was 85.1-93.1% for the CDS in pharmacy practice domain, and 59.6 - 89.7% for physical structure and equipment domain. The CDS with the highest proportion of clients rating as very important was "no expired medications were dispensed in pharmacy" (93.1%), while that with the lowest proportion rating as very important was "a weight scale and height ruler must be available" (59.6%). The CDS with the highest proportion of clients reporting as fully aware was "no expired medications were dispensed in pharmacy" (77.3%), and that with the lowest proportion was "pharmacy space must not be smaller than 8 square meters" (18.5%). However, the GPP items with the highest proportion of clients reporting as very important were not included in the CDS such as "before dispensing medication, pharmacists must obtain the relevant patient information" and "understandable labels of medications must be provided" (94.1 and 93.6% of clients, respectively). Conclusion: The CDSs in pharmacy practice domain were considered important in the clients’ perspectives, but those on physical structure and equipment were considered having low importance. As a result, measures are needed to improve clients' awareness.