A Study on Knowledge and Behavior of the Public with Chronic-Disorder Refill Prescriptions and Their Experiences of Hospital Pharmacy and Community Pharmacy Services

Because the general public are not familiar with chronic-disease refill prescriptions system, Department of Health Taipei City and Taipei pharmacists’ Association started a program to help the release of chronic-diease prescriptions to community pharmacies. They implemented chronic-diease refill prescription counseling sevice counters in front of all municipal hospital outpatient pharmacies. Two hundred and seven community pharmacies volunteered in the activity. The volunteer community pharmacists educated and assisted the public to refill their prescriptions at community pharmacies. Our objectives were to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and determinants of willingness of refill of chronic-diease prescriptions at community pharmacies. This study also assessed perceptions of the general public on pharmacists at hospitals and community pharmacies throuth the process of prescription refill.
This study used cross sectional and purposive sampling method. An anonymous questionnaire containing 21 questions was used. The survey was conducted by face-to-face interviews at one of the municipal hospitals between March 7, 2005, and April 15, 2005. Responses of the people who had chronic-disease prescriptions refilled during the study period were included in the analysis.
Three hundred and fifty-eight people had completed the interview. The average age was 59.13 ± 14.6 years (range, 20-84 years). Many (46.4%) respondents aged between 60 and 80 years. Most respondents (72.3%) had the prescriptions refilled by themselves. Among the knowledge toward refilling chronic-disease prescriptions at community pharmacies, two hundred and eighty-seven (80.2%) respondents had knew that a chronic-disease prescription can be filled at community pharmacies and 208(58.1%) knew that copayment was not needed when the chronic-disease prescription was filled at community pharmacies. Only 46 (12.8%) understood about generic substitution of drugs.
Of all respondents, 175(48.9%) reported they had the experience of chronic-disease refill prescriptions filled at community pharmacies. Two hundred and five (57.3%) respondents reported that it took 15 minutes or less to walk to the community pharmacy that is nearest from home. Many patients (31.8%) obtained chronic-disease prescriptions refill information from physicians, followed by community pharmacists (25.5%). Of people who had had their chronic-disorder refill prescriptions filled at community pharmacies, community pharmacists (36.4%) were the major information source.
Respondents rated their agreement about perceptions of pharmacists within the process of refilling a prescription at the hospital and/or community pharmacies. Overall, respondents had more positive impression of hospital pharmacists than community pharmacists on professionalism and the services that pharmacists provided. Most respondents were more confident in the quality of drugs obtained from hospital than that of community pharmacies (90.2%; 64.3%). However, more respondents agreed that community pharmacists were more concerned about their health than hospital pharmacists（41.9% vs 22.9%）and were more initiative to provide drug counseling (47.9%; 33.4%).
Important determinants of willingness to have chronic-disease prescriptions filled at community pharmacies for those who had such experience include accessibility of pharmacies (68.8%), quality of drugs received (46.6%) and timeliness of prescription refilled (31.8%).
Community pharmacists are in an unique position to help patients to manage chronic disease in term of their expertise, their regular contact with patients, and their accessibility. This study suggested that community pharmacists should improve their quality of sevice and fulfill their responsibility in health promotion and drug safety assurance.
Continuous propaganda and promotion by the authority in the use chronic-disease refill prescriptions and having them refilled at community pharmacies are recommended.