Development and validation of the Pharmaceutical Care Satisfaction Questionnaire

The development and validation of a survey instrument to assess consumer sa tisfaction with pharmacy services is discussed. The Pharmaceutical Care Sat isfaction Questionnaire (PCSQ) is a 30-item instrument administered by some one other than the pharmacist that uses a Likert scale to score respondents ' answers. The PCSQ is written approximately at a seventh grade reading lev el. Following initial development, the PCSQ was administered to 360 consume rs in ambulatory pharmacies and to 311 patients in a multicenter hyperlipid emia outcomes study. The Cronbach coefficient or was .94 for the consumer d ata, with a 64.8% variance accounted for by the 4-factor solution. A coeffi cient alpha of .84 was found on all 30 items in the hyperlipidemia study, w ith a variance of 63.78% in control patients and 60.16% in treatment patien ts. The PCSQ is easy to administer and score, with minimal cost. Unlike oth er satisfaction surveys, the PCSQ contains patient evaluations regarding ou tcomes of care. A primary limitation of the PCSQ is that it is a newly deve loped instrument that needs to be used in more studies to strengthen its va lidity.