Pharmacists' perceptions of consumer demand for patient-oriented pharmacy services

This study examined pharmacists' perceptions of consumer demand for various patient-oriented pharmacy services. Data on pharmacists' perceptions were gathered by a mail questionnaire of pharmacist-managers in Raleigh, NC. Conjoint and regression analyses indicate that pharmacists perceive little demand either for voluntary provision of advisory services or for patient medication records, and that pharmacists' perceptions of the demand for patient medication records relate significantly to their provision of this service. Comparison of pharmacists' perceptions of demand with previously collected consumer data indicates that pharmacists underestimate the demand for patient medication records but not for voluntary provision of advisory services. These findings suggest that pharmacists' perception of consumer demand is as important as actual consumer demand in explaining why pharmacists do not provide patient-oriented pharmacy services more frequently.