Patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical services in the context of chief pharmacist system: a comparative study from Shaanxi Province, China

Background To improve rational use of medicines for better pharmaceutical services, the Chinese government has piloted Chief Pharmacist System (CPS). This study aims to explore the relationship between CPS and patient satisfaction by comparing satisfaction with pharmaceutical services between pilot and non-pilot public hospitals. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted between July and August 2022. A total of 492 patients were included, with 276 from 9 pilot hospitals and 216 from 9 non-pilot hospitals. Patient satisfaction was measured using a 22-item questionnaire designed by Khudair and Raza, and a 0–100 scale overall satisfaction rating question. Multilevel linear regression models with random intercepts were used to account for the clustering of patients within hospitals to analyze the determinants of patient satisfaction. Results The mean score of overall patient satisfaction in the pilot hospitals (89.13 ± 10.99) was higher than that of the non-pilot hospitals (85.67 ± 13.87) ( p = 0.002). Analysis by dimension showed that patients in the pilot hospitals as compared with those in non-pilot hospitals showed significantly higher percentages of ‘satisfied’ in promptness of medication receipt (87.32% vs. 74.54%), pharmacists’ attitude of solving issues (88.04% vs. 75.93%), understanding cases of pharmacist (77.90% vs. 64.35%), clarity of medication label (77.54% vs. 63.89%), cleanliness and acceptability of pharmacy area (87.32% vs. 79.63%), working hours of pharmacy (80.80% vs. 71.76%), and medication education (all items except for medication dosage guidance). These differences were statistically significant ( p < 0.05). While the proportion of patients satisfied with medication education time was the lowest (30.43%) compared to other items, the pilot group still performed better than the non-pilot group. Multilevel analysis showed that the implementation of CPS was positively associated with patient satisfaction ( β = 3.264, p = 0.010). Conclusion Patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical services was significantly higher in pilot hospitals than in non-pilot hospitals. The implementation of CPS was positively associated with patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical services. Policymakers could consider the broader adoption of CPS as a beneficial strategy for enhancing patient satisfaction. This could be complemented by efforts to ensure sufficient medication education, optimize pharmacy physical spaces, and advance targeted pharmacist training.