OBJECTIVES: During the COVID-19 pandemic, private pharmacies in Greece shouldered additional critical responsibilities such as booking vaccine appointments, distributing personal protective equipment (PPEs) and performing rapid testing. This survey records perceptions, attitudes, and satisfaction of citizens with private pharmacies in Greece.

METHODS: Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) - supported interviews were conducted in June 2022 with a sample selected randomly from the national telephone directory and distributed proportionately across the thirteen administrative regions of the country. All adults who had visited a private pharmacy in the past 12 months were eligible to participate.

RESULTS: 1,049 adults participated in the survey. Of them 54.1% were women and over 50% were between 45 and 64 years old. 73.1% reported having a “personal” pharmacist, whom they trusted. 89.5% visited a pharmacy to fill a prescription and 53.5% to purchase over the counter (OTCs) medicines. Health services’ wise, 53% visited a pharmacy to get vaccinated or administered an intramuscular or subcutaneous injection, 44.4% to request information on a health emergency and 31.2% to request advise on proper use of medications. During the pandemic, 72.2% chose a pharmacy for rapid testing and 42.2% to book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine. 80.8% were extremely or very satisfied with their pharmacies. Over half of survey sample believed that pharmacists should provide consultation and support with managing health issues, such as compliance and adherence to treatment, drug-to-drug interactions, guidance on use of OTCs and basic health monitoring (weight, blood pressure, and glucose).

CONCLUSIONS: Citizens in Greece are very satisfied with private pharmacies, they trust them to provide some supplementary healthcare services, such as medication adherence consultation and recognize their significant contribution to managing the COVID-19 pandemic.