Assessment of Prior Experience With Pharmacists and Perceptions of Pharmacists’ Education and Training on Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) Patients’ Willingness to Accept Pharmacist-Provided Services

OBJECTIVES: Willingness to accept pharmacy services (WAPS) is still low among patients with multiple chronic diseases (MetS). Therefore, the study sought to investigate how prior experience with pharmacists (PEwP) and perceptions of pharmacists’ education and training (PPET) influence MetS patients’ WAPS.

METHODS: Data on PEwP, PPET, and WAPS were collected using the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) and the National Consumer Survey on Medication Experience and Pharmacist Roles (NCSME&PR) questionnaires, respectively. Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to investigate WAPS distribution across PEwP and PPET. Ordinal regression was also used to predict the association between the variables. Furthermore, mediation analysis through Haye’s Model 4 was used to explore the indirect influence of PPET on the relationship between PEwP and WAPS.

RESULTS: About 68.6% of respondents were between 45 and 64 years old. Only 32.5% of patients with good PEwP had good WAPS, while 62.3% with good PPET had good WAPS. WAPS distribution was significantly different across the PEwP (P = 0.002) and PPET (P < 0.001) categories. MetS patients with good PEwP had a 78% increase in odds ratio (P = 0.003) of being in a higher WAPS category, while those with poor PEwP had the highest probability (0.45) of having poor WAPS. Meanwhile, the probability of having good WAPS among those with good PPET was 0.63. The mediation analysis revealed a non-significant direct relationship between PEwP and WAPS. In contrast, the indirect effect model showed a full mediating effect of PPET (95% BootCI = 0.37, 0.63) on the relationship between PEwP and WAPS.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite the non-significant relationship between PEwP and WAPS, PEwP significantly influenced WAPS indirectly through PPET. Pharmacists must endeavor to improve patient experience because of its influence on patients’ perceptions of pharmacists’ competence in pharmacological intervention of MetS management, and hence impact their willingness to utilize pharmacy services.