Pharmacists are health professionals who are required by the legislation in force in the Slovak Republic to participate in continuing education throughout the entire period during which they practise the health profession. Continuing education for pharmacists is prescribed by the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 578/2004 Coll. on health care providers, health care workers, professional organizations in health care and regulated by the Decree of the Ministry of Health No. 74/2019 Coll. on the criteria and method of evaluation of continuing education of a health care worker. According to Article 22 of Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of professional qualifications, continuing education and training ensure that graduates are able to pursue professional development to the extent necessary to maintain safe and effective practice. The provision of expert information and advice on proper pharmacotherapy to patients or other healthcare professionals is also part of the pharmacy care provided in the pharmacy according to the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 362/2011 Coll. on Medicines and Medical Devices. In order to increase the safety of patients' treatment and to increase patients' compliance with treatment, it is essential to educate patients and raise their awareness: a) of the proper use of medications, b) of the expected effects of medications, c) of the possible interactions of concomitantly used medications, or medications and dietary components, d) of the proper storage of medication in the home, e) of the possible adverse effects of medications, f) of the ways how to reporting suspected adverse effects to the National Medicines Agency (in the Slovak Republic to the State Institute for Drug Control). An important part of this is also the education of patients in self-medication with over-the-counter medicines. Patients are educated by pharmacists as part of the dispensing of medicines, consultations or counselling carried out in pharmacies. An essential part of effective patients' education is not only the providing of necessary information and facts, but also adherence to the principles of proper effective communication between pharmacists and patients, adapting the way of expression to the needs of a particular patient (e.g. a senior, a patient with impaired vision, hearing, speech, memory), the use of appropriate understandable expressions, patience, empathy, and an effort to gain the patient's trust. The Slovak Chamber of Pharmacy (a professional organisation of pharmacists) is also involved in patients' education through its awareness-raising campaigns aimed at different target groups of patients (seniors, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children). Because the topic of patients' education by pharmacists has irreplaceable importance for improving the safety of pharmacotherapy and increasing patients' compliance with treatment, we focused on finding out patients' opinions on how satisfied they are with the information and recommendations provided by pharmacists in the context of dispensing, consultation and counselling activities in the pharmacies they visit.

education, patient, pharmacist, pharmacy