The effect of pharmacy setting and pharmacist communication style on patient perceptions and selection of pharmacists

To determine a) the impact of pharmacy setting (chain vs. independent) and b) pharmacists' communication styles on patients' pharmacist selection preferences and their perceptions of pharmacists.

A 2 (pharmacy setting) × 4 (communication style of pharmacist) mixed-design experiment using online vignettes, where pharmacy setting (chain vs. independent) was the between-subjects factor and the communication style of the pharmacists (paternalistic, informative, interpretive, or deliberative) was the within-subjects factor.

A total of 502 adult U.S. participants completed an online survey.

Participants completed measures of perceived expertise, quality of medical care, and patient satisfaction after exposure to each vignette. They also selected which of the 4 pharmacists they would want to visit, along with answering an open-ended prompt explaining their decision.

Mixed analysis of variance results revealed that pharmacy setting had no impact on the dependent variables, although pharmacists adopting more patient-centered communication (i.e., deliberative or interpretive) were perceived to have greater expertise (P < 0.001). These pharmacists were also predicted to provide a higher quality of care (P < 0.001) and greater patient satisfaction (P < 0.001). Although the majority of participants would choose to visit a patient-centered pharmacist, about 1 in 6 stated that he or she would prefer a pharmacist adopting a paternalistic communication style. Participants' rationale for their selections focused primarily on how the pharmacists would communicate or recommend treatments.

Although patient-centered care is seen as a criterion standard in pharmacy practice, there is a large subset of patients who prefer pharmacists who communicate from a more biomedical perspective. Future research and interprofessional educational opportunities with colleagues in communication disciplines may be fruitful in helping pharmacists to better assess patient cues that might signal their willingness to be more or less active participants in their care. Pharmacies may also find it useful to improve how they market pharmacists so that patients can more effectively choose pharmacists who fit the style of care they would like to receive.