PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION AS A PROFESSIONAL FUNCTION OF A PHARMACIST − ANALYSIS OF EXPECTATIONS AND PREFERENCES OF PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES CONSUMERS

Implementation of state problems in the field of public health protection is impossible without the participation of phar- maceutical specialists, which requires a comprehensive assessment of existing practices in the field of health and social work from the consumers’ view. The purpose of the research is to study the expectations, preferences and consumers satisfaction with the level of participation of pharmacists in maintaining and improving the public health. Materials and methods. The assessment of consumer expectations and preferences was based on the analysis of the survey results using standard methods of statistical analysis (two-sample student test, nonparametric Mann-Whitney test with a significance level of p<0.05, Friedman’s rank analysis of variance) in the software products Statistica 10 and Microsoft Excel. Results. Analysis of consumer expectations and their satisfaction regarding the participation of pharmacists in public health has allowed to define the portrait of the most competent and at the same time demanding visitor pharmacies. It’s a woman 36-50 years old with higher education that has got children up to 18 years and/or older relatives (friends), and/or with chronic diseases and receiving multiple medications on a regular basis. With increasing age, the number of chronic diseases and, consequently, the number of necessary medications, consumer expectations are also increase. The public reaction to the participation of pharmacists in public health protection is mostly positive, however the pharmaceutical specialist is more widely perceived in society as an expert on medicines, rather than on healthcare in general. For all consumers of pharmaceutical services, the most significant characteristic is the level of pharmacists’ professional compe- tence. Regular consumers of pharmacy services express a higher willingness to follow the pharmacists’ recommendations to pre- serve and promote health (such as healthy diet, physical activity, solving problems associated with quitting smoking). At the same time, consumers without any health problems are less motivated to receive health-saving recommendations from a pharmacist. Conclusion: The modern society is aware of the significant role of pharmacists in the implementation of health-saving technologies, although the range of their professional tasks rarely goes further than the sphere of medicines supply. This fact requires the phar- macy manager to focus on monitoring the compliance of specialists ‘ competencies with consumer expectations. The greatest interest in receiving health-saving recommendations from pharmacists is shown by older patients having chronic dis- eases and taking medicines on a regular basis, while the involvement of other categories of pharmacy’s visitors in preventive con- sultations remains low. This circumstance indicates the potential for strengthening the preventive component of pharmaceutical counseling, which will allow visitors to form a deeper understanding of pharmacists as full participants in the healthcare system.