TITLE:
Exploring Patient Satisfaction with Pharmaceutical Care in Nampula City Public Healthcare Centers, Northern Mozambique
AUTHORS:
Neivaldo Murrube, Alfredo Eusébio, Jenny Eusébio, Issa Horta, Cardeal Foutinho, Calisto Máquina
KEYWORDS:
Pharmaceutical Attention, Patient Sensitivity, Health Satisfaction
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Epidemiology,
Vol.15 No.1,
February
7,
2025
ABSTRACT: Introduction: In recent times, satisfaction studies have gained importance in the health sector as a way to monitor services and products. The main aim of this study was to explore patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care provided in Nampula healthcare centers. Material and Methods: The study was conducted at the 25 de Setembro, 1˚ de Maio, and Muhala-Expansão healthcare centers in Nampula. The sample consisted of 381 patients, with 127 from each center, selected for accessibility. Data were collected through a questionnaire with an internal consistency of 0.816, calculated using McDonald’s total Omega (ωt). The analysis included frequencies, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and inferential statistics like Binary Logistic Regression. Results: Overall satisfaction was 3.62 ± 0.627 on a scale of 1 to 5, or 69.8%. The binary regression associated a higher education level with dissatisfaction (COR 0.204, 95% CI: −2.752 to −0.427) and living in Marrere (COR 0.083, 95% CI: -5.098 to 0.120) and Muahivir-Expansão (COR 0.589, 95% CI: −1.824 to 0.767) with dissatisfaction as well. Conclusion: Satisfaction was generally high, mainly influenced by the availability of medicines and medical supplies, and less by other factors such as healthcare center accessibility, facility quality, and relationships with pharmacy professionals. Although variables like sex, religion, age, marital status, profession, occupation, and the number of pharmacy visits in the last five years were not statistically significant for general satisfaction in this study, they should be considered in future studies as they are often linked to pharmaceutical satisfaction.