Patient Satisfaction and Comprehension of Physician and Pharmacist Prescription in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ammar K Alharbi; Arwa A Alhutayrashi; Areen N Alosaimi; Sawsan M Althubyani; Mokhtar Shatla

doi:10.7759/cureus.27324

Patient Satisfaction and Comprehension of Physician and Pharmacist Prescription in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Cureus. 2022 Jul 27;14(7):e27324. doi: 10.7759/cureus.27324. eCollection 2022 Jul.

Authors

Ammar K Alharbi¹, Arwa A Alhutayrashi², Areen N Alosaimi¹, Sawsan M Althubyani³, Mokhtar Shatla⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
² Medicine and Surgery, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.
³ Emergency Department, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Musaed Hospital, Arar, SAU.
⁴ Family Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAU.

Abstract

Background and objectives Patient satisfaction is a measure of patient quality of life, and the perspective and experience of patients would further improve different aspects of healthcare services of both the health plan and health care. This study aims to assess patient satisfaction with both physicians and pharmacists, as well as how well patients comprehended their prescriptions. Methods This was a cross-sectional, survey-based study conducted from January to April 2022 in Saudi Arabia. An online survey was spread through social media and was filled out over two months. The survey received 575 responses and it included participants' demographics and general satisfaction toward both physicians and pharmacists and healthcare services. Two modified tools, i.e., the Patient Satisfaction with Pharmacist Services Questionnaire (PSPSQ 2.0) and the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18), were used for this study. Results The participants were very satisfied (overall satisfaction: 82.5%) with their education on how to take medicine (87.1%), and the information was easy to understand (89.9%), they were able to ask for more information (67.7%), and the explanations were very clear (84.0%). The level of satisfaction toward healthcare services with both the physician and pharmacist was high (78% with a mean score of 50.7 ± 9.8). The self-perceived general satisfaction toward participant capacity and comprehension by bio-demographic data was higher in females than in males (3.34 ± 1.0 vs. 3.13 ± 1.14, respectively), with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.032). The satisfaction toward healthcare services with both physicians and pharmacists was higher in participants with low education levels compared with those with higher education levels (54.7 ± 8.3 vs. 50.3 ± 10.0; p = 0.049), respectively. Conclusions The current study demonstrated a high level of satisfaction among participants with healthcare services and both physicians and pharmacists in general. The majority of the participants were satisfied with the education they received, and they considered the information on how to take the drug to be simple to comprehend.

Keywords: complex medication regimen; comprehension; healthcare system; medical prescription; patient satisfaction; patient understanding; pharmacist; physician.