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Comparative Assessment of Patient Satisfaction with Telepharmacy Services and Traditional In-Person Pharmacy Consultations

Research articleOpen accessVol. 15, Issue 10, October 2026

  • Dr. Tarun SahaniMedical officer, Katari Hospital Katari,Udaypur Nepal, PIN-56300, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0131-2079
Received
12 September 2026
Accepted
23 September 2026
Published
10 October 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0
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Abstract

— Patient satisfaction is a core indicator of quality in pharmacy services and a powerful predictor of adherence, persistence, and clinical outcomes. Rapid diffusion of telepharmacy—video, phone, and asynchronous chat–based counseling—promises gains in access and convenience but raises questions about relational quality, trust, and perceived safety compared with traditional in-person counseling. This manuscript compares patient satisfaction across these two modes and provides a clear, replicable protocol for future empirical work. We outline a comparative cross-sectional design using validated satisfaction instruments adapted for pharmacy contexts, and detail sampling, measurement, and analysis procedures that adjust for digital literacy, age, urban–rural residence, and condition type.

To illustrate the analytic approach, we include an example results section based on a hypothetical dataset (n=400; 200 telepharmacy, 200 in-person). The illustrative analysis suggests non-inferior overall satisfaction for telepharmacy (mean 4.31/5) relative to in-person (4.24/5), with telepharmacy outperforming on access and time-saved domains, and in-person counseling scoring higher on empathy and relational rapport. Older adults and those with low digital literacy show a small satisfaction gap favoring in-person care, while rural patients and those balancing work constraints favor telepharmacy. We discuss implications for hybrid service models, staffing, training, and technology design. The protocol, measures, and reporting templates can be directly adopted or adapted by health systems seeking to benchmark patient experience across counseling modalities.

Keywords: telepharmacy; patient satisfaction; pharmaceutical care; counseling; hybrid care models; digital literacy; access to care

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How to cite

Dr. Tarun Sahani (2026). Comparative Assessment of Patient Satisfaction with Telepharmacy Services and Traditional In-Person Pharmacy Consultations. International Journal for Research in Management & Pharmacy, 15(10).

Licence

This article is open access, published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Copyright remains with the authors.