The Latvian Medicines Verification Organisation (LZVO), aiming to improve the quality of work and collaboration, conducted an end user survey on LZVO's customer service in May of this year.
All end-user’s designated contact persons who use the verification system on a daily basis were invited to participate in the survey. Answers were given by a total of 301 end-users of the Latvian Medicines Verification System (LZVS), of which 33% are individual pharmacies, 26% – polyclinics, clinics, health and medical centres public, 11% – hospitals and hospitals pharmacies, 11% - dental institutions and practices, 9% – wholesalers, 6% – chains pharmacies, 5% – family or other specialty doctor's practices and 1% – other users.
LZVO's customer service received a high evaluation in the survey – LZVO's customer service was rated with 4.3 points overall (on a 5-point system). Furthermore, when assessing the importance of the system, 84% of the respondents have acknowledged that, in general, the medicines verification system is easy to use, and it protects patients from falsified medicines.
"On behalf of LZVO, I would like to thank the partners, the end users of the system, for participating in the survey and for their high evaluations of our work. Thanks to the involvement of end users, we can work together on the development and improvement of the system and customer service. Regular evaluation of our cooperation allows us not only to strengthen relations with end users but also to enhance the quality of the provided support, the operation of the system and to identify potential challenges in a timely manner," says Inese Erdmane, Chairwoman of the Board of LZVO.
The survey shows that the profile and activity of end users working in the LZVS system varies widely – 33% of respondents verify or decommission up to 10 packages per week in the system, 29% – 10-100 packages per week, 15% – 100-300 packages per week and 23% – over 300 packages per week.
Self-assessment of knowledge
End users of the system highly value their knowledge and skills working with the verification and decommissioning of medicines daily. 83% respondents assess their knowledge as good or very good, another 13% – neutral. Slightly fewer users are confident about their knowledge and skills in the case of alert – a total of 72% of respondents think that they have a good or very good knowledge, another 18% evaluate their knowledge neutrally. Also, 75% of respondents think that they would know where and how to get help with IT and other problems, while 19% have a neutral answer. Those end users who work with the system more often are more confident about their knowledge.
Evaluation of LZVO customer service
16% of participants of the customer satisfaction survey haven’t used LZVO customers’ support so far, while among those users who have used this support, the reachability of LZVO employees by e-mail and telephone is rated as very good or good in 91% of cases. Of the respondents who have had to solve their issue with the LZVO on the substance of the issue, 86% of respondents rate this process as very good or good, 13% had neutral rating, while 2 respondents have given a poor rating. The speed of resolving issues in LZVO has satisfied 87% of respondents, but 5 customers out of 236 respondents assess it as weak.
LZVO customer service in general was evaluated by a total of 253 survey participants who have used it. 222 respondents or 88% indicate that the service is very good or good. LZVO customer service is rated with an average of 4.3 points out of 5.
LZVO customer support speed assessment
Slightly more than a half or 52% of respondents have used consultations and support for end users about connection to LZVS. Of these, 91% or 142 end users have received it within 1 business day.
Consultations and support for end-users on password and security certificate renewal in LZVS have not been used by 49% of survey participants. Of those who have resolved these issues with LZVO, 92% have resolved the issue within one business day, and 48% – even within just 1-4 hours.
56% of respondents haven’t used the consultation related to the verification of medicinal products in the system (verification, decommission, export, sample, destruction, expired etc.). 55% of those seeking help have received it within 1-4 hours, 95% – within one working day. Only 7 respondents noted that they had received these consultations within 2 working days.
51% of the survey participants have used LZVO's consultations and support for investigation of alerts, of which 88% have resolved the issue within one working day.
Evaluation of the verification system
Asked to evaluate the medicine verification system and its importance in general, 84% of the respondents have acknowledged that the system is easy to use, and 83% – that the system protects patients from falsified medicines. Only 5% or 14 respondents think that the system is difficult to use and does not make sense to protect patients.
Recommendations and proposals
Asked to give suggestions and improvements, a large part of the survey respondents indicated that the system and LZVO work well and there are no recommendations. On the other hand, recommendations that are repeated are about a simpler password system and changing them more rarely, determining the obligation to verify medicines for a smaller number of participants in the supply chain, as well as desirable improvements in the verification of unregistered and parallel imported medicines. Several survey participants also indicated the desire for faster communication in the investigation of alerts and the preservation of records of alerts, which LZVO plans to implement with the new Alert Management System (AMS) in late 2023 and early 2024.
LZVO thanks all LZVS end-users for taking the time to fill out the survey and plans to use the results to improve its operations and customers information.