Table 2 Patient’s beliefs regarding the implementation of telepharmacy versus in-person visits
Themes | Patient’s views and beliefs (sub-themes) | Mean (± SD) | Interquartile range (IQR) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Q1 | Median | Q3 | |||
Pharmaceutical services | Reducing the incidence of contagious disease by receiving remote pharmaceutical services | 4.41 (± 0.78) | 4.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 |
Improve the information security and confidentiality | 4.05 (± 0.91) | 4.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Legal tracking of medication errors | 3.87 (± 0.97) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
More effective reporting of drug side effects to pharmacists and physicians | 3.83 (± 1.01) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Increase cooperation and interactions between doctor and pharmacist | 3.82 (± 0.97) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Delivering better and easier pharmaceutical services (distribution and prescription) | 3.80 (± 1.01) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Providing better medication recommendations | 3.79 (± 1.01) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Receive drug services all the time and around the clock | 3.79 (± 0.51) | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | |
Reducing medication errors, allergy and drug interactions | 3.71 (± 1.04) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | |
Increase adherence to medication | 3.50 (± 1.01) | 3.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | |
Ease and low cost of use | Travel shorter distance for receiving pharmaceutical services | 4.25 (± 0.86) | 4.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 |
Spend less time receiving pharmaceutical services | 4.24 (± 0.86) | 4.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Compensate the lack of physicians or pharmacists and facilities in rural areas | 4.04 (± 0.92) | 4.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Easy, accurate, and real-time documentation | 3.97 (± 0.83) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Easier and faster access to clinical and pharmaceutical information by pharmacists and physicians | 3.96 (± 0.85) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Reduce costs | 3.86 (± 0.97) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Reduce patients' anxiety and stress | 3.83 (± 1.02) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Easy exchange of information with pharmacists and physicians | 3.82 (± 1.10) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Easier payment | 3.79 (± 0.96) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
Better and easy scheduling of revisits | 3.77 (± 0.93) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | |
Easy communication and interaction with pharmacists | 3.64 (± 1.09) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | |
Technology access and use | Limited access to the internet connection / Low bandwidth | 4.00 (± 0.89) | 3.50 | 4.00 | 5.00 |
Insufficient technological literacy and skills | 3.65 (± 1.02) | 3.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | |