Perception of patients towards counseling at outpatient pharmacy PPUKM / Zaid Ideris and Nur Diyana Ridzuan

Non-compliance to drug therapy is a common problem worldwide. Providing effective counseling to the patients regarding their medication is an excellent mean to improve patient compliance. The present study evaluated the performance of counseling service in outpatient pharmacy Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM) via patient perception. The collection of data was done from 1st October 2008 to 1st January 2009. A total of 102 patients were involved to complete the questionnaire. Data was collected via a semi-structured questionnaire with face to face interview. The obtained data was analyzed by using SPSS version 15.0 and Microsoft Excell 2003. Altogether, 102 patients completed the questionnaire from 1st October 2008 to 1st January 2009. Among them, 55.9% were female. The largest age group of the patients were age 20 - 29 (42.2%) with post secondary education level (67.6%) and most of them are working as civil servant (52%). Generally, the patients were satisfied with the counseling service (71.6%) provided by outpatient pharmacy PPUKM. Three most common problems that affect the counseling service by patient were not smiling (46.1%), do not introduce (44.1%) and do not use appropriate language (31.4%). In order to achieve effective counseling, most of the patients suggested, the pharmacy to communicate in the appropriate language (51%), greet the patients (49%) and pay attention (47.1%). This study showed that most of the respondents were satisfied with the counseling service that they received. However, using the appropriate language, improving interpersonal skills and improving the facilities i.e. the counseling room and pharmacy environment should be considered to improve the overall counseling service in outpatient pharmacy PPUKM.