gms | German Medical Science

Pharmacists are obliged by law in advising patients on their medication. Apart from this fact, it also offers the chance to demonstrate the advantage of community over mail-order pharmacies. Pharmacists are increasingly criticised because of their counselling and therefore they want to use the Pseudo Customer Concept for continual improvement.

Participation in the Pseudo Customer Pilot Study was offered to 50 community pharmacies in the administrative district of Hanover. Participants were informed that a trained pharmacist as pseudo customer would visit their pharmacy in March or April 2004 and ask for advice on self-medication. The pseudo customer was instructed to play his role according to two scripts: (1) Request for an analgesic and (2) inappropriate use of antacids. Subsequent to the visit, counselling was evaluated on the basis of a standardised questionnaire, containing items like. information provision, communicative skills as well as information on the situation. The pseudo customer re-entered the pharmacy and offered feedback about strength and room for improvement to the participant.

49 community pharmacies in Hanover volunteered to participate in the study (1 pharmacy had withdrawn consent). Each pharmacy was visited once by a pseudo customer. There were major differences between pharmacies regarding counselling, furthermore there was a great difference in offering advice without demand between case 1 and 2 (96% vs. 29%). The overall average impression for quality of counselling in the study was 3.7 (scale 1 (very good) - 6 (inadequate)).

The pilot study has shown that the Pseudo Customer visits are well accepted by the participants and helpful to increase the quality of counselling in community pharmacies.

Funding: Apothekerkammer Niedersachsen