Background Basic concepts of quality assurance (QA) are often applied to hospital pharmacy practice, and among these concepts satisfaction surveys could be a very useful tool in ensuring the proper functioning of the system.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to show how a satisfaction survey properly conducted could be a meaningful source of information to identify gaps and to develop an effective action plan for quality improvement in the hospital pharmacy.

Material and methods A satisfaction survey in the form of a questionnaire was carefully designed by our hospital pharmacists’ team. Pharmacy technicians were also asked for their remarks and proposals. It included close-ended and open-ended questions about medicines and availability of medical devices, quality of reception, staff services and communication between the pharmacy and other departments. The members of the hospital staff attending the pharmacy were given copies of the survey questionnaire to complete anonymously. In total, 85 forms were distributed. Patients were not surveyed since, in our context, they do not receive their treatments directly at the pharmacy. Responses to open-ended questions were used to identify the main expectations.

Results Fifty responses were received and included nine physicians (18%), 29 nurses (58%) and 12 other paramedics. Sixty-four per cent of the participants were globally satisfied with the hospital pharmacy services. The most positive appreciations were about the quality of reception at the pharmacy (36% very satisfied and 40% satisfied) and the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians services (29% very satisfied and 43% satisfied). The main parameters rated negatively were the availability of some medicines and medical devices all over the year (42% moderately satisfied and 28% unsatisfied), the lack of a good traceability system and the inadequacy of the information system. The participants also indicated that the most important area to improve primarily was a real-time communication between the pharmacy and the hospital departments about the availability but also the possibilities of substitution and scientific information on pharmaceutical products.

Conclusion This work demonstrated the interest in using such satisfaction surveys as reliable and robust tools to improve the hospital pharmacy practice.

References and/or Acknowledgements We would like to thank all the hospital staff who participated in this survey

No conflict of interest