Consumer awareness and utilization of clinical services, and their satisfaction and loyalty with community pharmacies: Analysis of a US nationwide survey

Introduction Community pharmacies are the most accessible health care service locations. While providing greater patient health care access, there is a need for understanding consumer awareness and utilization of pharmacy‐provided services and their satisfaction and loyalty to the pharmacy setting. Objectives To determine consumer utilization and awareness of services and to identify what factors influence satisfaction and loyalty within a community pharmacy. Methods A 30‐minute online survey of 9202 adult consumers across the United States was conducted. Patient's self‐reported awareness and utilization, satisfaction with their community pharmacies, and likelihood to recommend their current pharmacy were scored. The likelihood to recommend scores was translated into a Net Promoter Score (NPS). Regression analysis was utilized to identify associated independent variables associated with consumer awareness, utilization, satisfaction, and loyalty to their community pharmacy. Results Consumer utilization of medication distribution services was more common than use of clinical services, even though many consumers are aware of available clinical services. Consumer satisfaction with and loyalty to their community pharmacy was ranked high (8.67 ± 1.39; 8.56 + 1.66 [both strongly agree], respectively). Trusting the pharmacist to provide accurate medication and general health information were ranked as strongly agree (8.25 ± 2.04) and moderately agree (6.42 ± 2.84). Consumer's NPS (+49.9) was moderately‐high with a major proportion being promoters (60.1%) of their community pharmacy. Multivariate regression showed that community pharmacy satisfaction and loyalty were modestly associated with advanced age, the provision of accurate medication and health information, and medication dispensing functions. Conclusion Satisfaction and loyalty are vital aspects in the delivery and efficacy of health care, especially in the community pharmacy setting. The results of this study show that consumers are promotors of community pharmacies and that pharmacists are an important source for health and medication information.