Higher levels of consultation services increase patient satisfaction.

Satisfaction of patients with pharmacist consultation was studied in 360 pharmacist-patient interactions in 12 pharmacies. Personal interviews conducted when patients exited pharmacies provided 304 (84%) usable responses. Patients who received longer consultations and were provided with more types of information during consultation were more likely to report that their expectations were exceeded. Patients who received more consultation than they expected reported the highest satisfaction with the service, on average. Exceeding patients' expectations for pharmacist consultation appears to be a key component of patient satisfaction with this service.