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Background: The role of pharmacists as healthcare providers continues to evolve as they take full advantage of all the capabilities that come with their clinical training. An important component of these expanding roles is patient satisfaction with the services provided by pharmacists. In recent years, influenza vaccinations are increasingly taking place in retail community pharmacies; as this trend continues it is important to understand patients’ satisfaction with their immunization experience.
Objectives: Assess patients’ satisfaction with their influenza vaccination experience at Walgreens.
Methods: An independent survey research vendor conducts weekly telephonic satisfaction surveys of patients, age ≥ 18, who received flu shots in the prior week at Walgreens pharmacies. Each week they draw a random sample of 20,000 patients and call them in random order until 100 - 250 surveys are completed. Data from 8/23/2010 to 10/12/2010 are included in this analysis. Survey questions include overall satisfaction and satisfaction with specific aspects of the immunization experience. All responses are on a 1-9 scale, where 1= Not at all Satisfied and 9 = Extremely Satisfied.
Results: A total of 13,313 contacts were attempted, of which 1,200 (9%) patients completed the survey. Of the 1,200 patients, 91.3% were extremely satisfied with their flu shot at Walgreens; 98.8% gave an overall satisfaction rating of 5 or better. Other questions with the highest rating of 9=extremely satisfied include:
- 94.3% with the professionalism of person giving flu shot;
- 94.3% with courtesy and friendliness of person giving flu shot;
- 92.5% with pharmacist being knowledgeable;
- 86.7% with pharmacist offering advice and counseling.
Conclusions: The survey data suggests that patients are extremely satisfied with their flu shot experience at Walgreens. Consumer acceptance of the expanded role of pharmacist providers is important to increase capacity and access to primary healthcare.