PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICE AS A FACTOR OF THE RESPONSIVENESS OF A PHARMACY ORGANIZATION

Introduction. Pharmaceutical services in modern pharmacy business should be combined not only with commercial price incentives, but also with non-pharmaceutical circumstances of their provision. The concept of «responsiveness of the health system» has been proposed by the World Health Organization to assess the response of the system to the non-medical expectations of the population. However, studies of pharmacy responsiveness to non-pharmaceutical customers’ expectations are virtually absent. Objective: to develop criteria for assessing the responsiveness of pharmacy organizations (POs) and the methodology of its study and measurement. Material and methods. The investigation material was 200 questionnaires filled out by city hospital patients and the results of traffic of 14 pharmacies in Kursk. Statistical, sociological methods, exit polls, and cartographic analysis were used. Results. The concept of «responsiveness of a pharmacy organization» was defined, which characterizes the non-monetary aspects of the work of POs, that is to say, the methods of customer interaction. An experiment was carried out to confirm the importance of the responsiveness of POs to its attendance. The paper gives the results of a comparative analysis of the number of patients who plan to purchase and actually purchase drugs in pharmacies. It confirms the importance of the responsiveness of a pharmacy to the decision-making by a customer to choose a pharmacy to purchase a medicine. The pharmacy attendance ratio is proposed to measure the responsiveness of a pharmacy. Conclusion. In addition to the existing health indicators of the responsiveness to non-medical expectations of the population, quantitative indicators are offered for rapid assessment of the responsiveness of POs. The responsiveness of the pharmacy system is a tool to assess the social utility of POs. The indicator can be used to comparatively analyze network pharmacies.