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 | |