PHARMACY'S PROXIMITY RANKS FIRST, SURVEY FINDS

The Parata Prescription Safety 2008 survey found that about 50% of US adults said proximity to work or home was the No. 1 reason for choosing a pharmacy. The survey also showed that 23% reported choosing a pharmacy for pricing, and the use of automated dispensing equipment, which has been shown to reduce errors, ranked last, cited by just 2% of respondents.

Patients ranked pharmacists (49%) over physicians (15%) as principally responsible for ensuring their prescriptions are accurate. Yet, only 36% could name the pharmacist who filled the script, while 91% of respondents could name the physician who wrote their last prescription.

In addition, the majority of prescription takers (80%) spend less than 2 minutes speaking to their pharmacists when they pick up their medications, and 45% do not speak to them at all.