Connecting the Customer Experience Concept with Pharmaceutical Care for Improving the Healthcare Status of Patients

Abstract

Healthcare costs are rising worldwide, due to a series of factors related to increased spending on medication, aging, medication errors, adverse drug events and hospital admissions.

Aging phenomenon is closely followed by an increasing burden of chronic diseases. New therapies used to treat chronic diseases have intensified the economic pressure on healthcare organizations.

Pharmacists play an important role in lowering costs by reviewing the pharmacotherapy of patients. Pharmacists are also the link between the physician and the patient, providing free medical advice without the need for an appointment. Lowering the number of inappropriately prescribed drugs reduces the risk of adverse drug events that frequently contribute to prolonged and expensive hospital admissions.

In the near future, a new approach is needed for long term results. Pharmacists will have to reshape the old concept of patient care, moving out of the negative feelings area derived from sickness and start to protect health instead of managing disease. It will result a shift from sick care to proactive healthcare experiences. Pharmacists will anticipate and solve patient’s problems before they can produce a displeasure.

For maintaining a well-being state of patients is now necessarily to adopt or implement a patient centred strategy based on customer experience pillars. In Romania integrity matters most in customer experience, closely followed by personalization. In the new Era of pharmaceutical care, pharmacists will have to focus on patient experience and patient journey.