Abstract

Introduction: Pharmaceutical services are one of the essential components in primary health care settings. ‎In recent years, the provision of some of these services has been left to the private sector with the aim of ‎increasing quality, patient satisfaction, innovative ideas through interactions with other sectors and ‎organizations, and cost reduction. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of outsourced ‎and public pharmacies of comprehensive healthcare centers of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical ‎Sciences (AJUMS).‎ Methods: This is a descriptive-analytic observational study conducted in 2018. The study population ‎consisted of 122 active pharmacies (70 outsourced and 52 public) in healthcare centers offering family ‎physician services and rural insurance programs in the university's affiliated cities. A researcher-made ‎questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire included demographic variables (12 items) ‎and 5 functional dimensions (34 items). The reliability of this questionnaire was 0.92. Data were analyzed ‎using independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient.‎ Results: There was no significant difference between the average scores of public and outsourced ‎pharmacies in rural and urban comprehensive healthcare centers (p = 0.97). The average score of all quality ‎dimensions of public and outsourced pharmacies as well as the working hours (between 3 and 4) was ‎estimated to be relatively appropriate. The highest average scores were related to stakeholders' ‎satisfaction (3.47 ± .68) in public pharmacies while the lowest average scores were related to the service ‎delivery process (3.00 ± .93) in outsourced pharmacies of urban and rural comprehensive healthcare ‎centers. The distance of the health center from the city's health center was significantly and inversely ‎correlated with the satisfaction of the stakeholders (r = -.321, p = .000).‎ Conclusion: Despite the fact that outsourcing is considered as a mechanism for achieving optimal ‎performance and improving the quality of services, it seems that managers and authorities should consider ‎the type of services offered by outsourced units and the way outsourcing is implemented. Also, continuous ‎evaluation and monitoring of outsourced units as another influential factor should be taken into account‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎.