OBJECTIVES: Pharmacy practice has evolved from its traditional compounding and dispensing to a more patient focused model of practice. One such historic evolution is the advent of integrated pharmacy practice, which aims to provide patient focused services. It not only ensures the safety, efficacy and effectiveness of medicines, but also focuses on empowering patients to take an active role in healthcare. A private, but leading, university hospital in Pakistan has implemented a country-wide outreach integrated pharmacy services program. This research aims to explore the lived experiences of patients with the outreach integrated pharmacy services program.

METHODS: The study used a qualitative, phenomenological, design. Face-to-face, audio-taped, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 patients attending an outreach integrated pharmacy located in Lahore, Pakistan. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.

RESULTS: The results contributed to a deeper understanding of patients' lived experiences with the outreach integrated pharmacy services program. The themes emerged were: trusting relationship, accessibility, and quality of services. Patients reported that pharmacists were building trusting relationships and encouraging them to take an active role in disease management. They reported that pharmacists were delivering them range of services including medication labelling, detailed counselling, and medicine information from reliable resources, which they normally do not expect from community pharmacies. The interviewee patients further mentioned that this outreach program facilitated their access to quality services that they would expect from the main hospital administering the outreach integrated pharmacy services program.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first qualitative study exploring the lived experiences of patients with the outreach integrated pharmacy services program in Pakistan. Patients were generally positive towards the program. However, the longitudinal effects of the program on the actual patient outcomes are unknown. Also, research is needed to investigate the sustainability of the outreach integrated pharmacy services program.