Older adults' perception of evaluating and comparing pharmacies based on the Consumer Experience with Pharmacy Services Survey (CEPSS)
| Perceptions | Sample quotations |
|---|---|
| Older adults supported the idea of evaluating pharmacies based on the domains | “I think it's important…to us, the consumer. We need this. We need pharmacies to give us this.” “I think they should be evaluated.” |
| Several older adults pointed out that many services are compared in today's marketplace so pharmacy quality should be compared too | “I think it's a great idea, and you know, of comparisons, we do it. As consumers, we should have a right to make comparisons…We go to supermarkets, we make comparisons…And the same thing with pharmacists—service, oral communication, written communications, pharmacy care, we make a comparison. And what it does is, is when people grade these pharmacies…that’ll bring them up…I think it's a great idea.” “Just like they do for our health insurance companies—the pharmacies need to be held to that same standard.” “They rate the hospitals and they rate the doctors, who's good and who's bad, so [why not pharmacies?]” |
| The evaluation and comparison of pharmacies would have a salutary effect on pharmacies that initially rank low | “I think an evaluation would be a good thing. That way, they know where they would need to improve and to just get an idea of what the public, their customers, you know, the relationship, and just to make things better. It'll give them an idea of, This is what the public is looking at, from us.” |
| The evaluation and comparison of pharmacies would be more valuable in urban than in rural locations | “We have so many different pharmacies in Madison, we're spoiled. We're not talking about some little rural community…It's a whole different problem…[when] the next pharmacy is fifty miles away. This [reporting of domains] means nothing.” |
| The evaluation of pharmacies should focus on specific, quantifiable indicators of quality (eg, medication safety) and avoid subjective data | “Well, you know, hospitals are rated and you can read the ratings on the number of people who get infections while in the hospital…the number of people who die in the hospital and that type of thing…because the hospitals are required to provide that information. So what would have to happen is that all of the pharmacies would have to be required to provide certain facts on their outcome of how many people were given the wrong medication, which as far as I'm concerned that's the only important thing they have to rate is how many people are given the wrong medication…Service?…Well…that's subjective…How long you have to wait. How attentive they are to you…That, again, that doesn’t kill you.” |
| Some older adults would rather use price and pharmacy medication safety in evaluating pharmacies than quality information | “As long as they can give me the right medication I don’t give a hoot. I go where the price is right and I don’t care actually if they have the best price if the pharmacist frowns at me every time…I don’t care if they say hurry up and get out of here. I don’t care as long as their price is right…as long as they are competent…no errors. None of these [CEPSS domains] are related to the pharmacy giving you the wrong darn pill.” |
| Some older adults are sceptical about the evaluation of pharmacies based on the domains because it is subjective information based on individual preferences | “I think it's difficult because it's very personal, and it depends…some people like or want more information, others don’t want as much. I don’t want to spend 10 minutes talking every time…about the drug, which our pharmacist is obligated to do, and it's obvious that he's obligated to come over and say, ‘Do you have any questions?’…to me that's good, but somebody else might want more information—so I think it'd be difficult to come up with an objective system that takes in individual choices.” |