The rapid expansion and penetration of Internet technology continuously forces pharmacists to
rethink and redefine their mission and their role in providing meaningful service for the patients.
Internet became highly usable technology in health care with the up rise of e-health phenomena,
characterized by instant, non stop access to the information and services.
This particular thesis are installed in a wider concept of e-business and in particular, migration
from traditional (brick) towards Internet-supported (click) ways of conducting pharmacy
business, often referred to as e-pharmacy. In short, while most health and drugs-related
information is already accessible to some degree online, there is a growing need for trustworthy
sources of information, as well as secure communication among patients and pharmacists, both
providing a platform for actual online issuing, purchasing and to some extent the delivery of the
drugs and services.
The core of this research is to determine to what extent Internet is being used as primary source
of information regarding health among end-users, followed by the exploration of the extent of
understanding drug safety )among Internet users and finally, researching whether there is a need
for government-regulated, certified source of trustworthy information regarding drugs and their
consumption.
In addition, we were exploring should such Internet service be freely available to end-users, and
should it provide private and secure two-way communication among patients and pharmacists.
Furthermore, we were interested in the level of trust that people have in information gathered
from various existing traditional and Internet sources, and most importantly, whether the trust to
the information source is also the most important predicting factor of purchase.
Therefore, several hypothesis were set and analysed with quantitative research method – opinion
pools among end-users, designed as a combination of telephone and Internet-based surveys,
which had provided us with nation-wide (Slovenian) representative sample.
Due to the complexity of research design, we were able to acquire high data resolution, as well
as profound understanding of our research area, enabling us to enlighten causality, motives,
barriers and doubts among the end-users, potential e-patients.
The data collection took place via above mentioned telephone and web surveys, that were
conducted in months of June and July 2008. The telephone survey resulted in 818 respondents,
however only frequent Internet users were considered for the sample (613), i.e. using Internet at
least on monthly basis.
The web survey was widely promoted via Internet portals, directories and search engines, and
resulted in total 497 respondents, of which 369 were taken under consideration due to the partial
answers and non-responses given by the non-included respondents.
The key finding is that internet users still favour personal communication with doctors and
pharmacists over Internet sources of information regarding health. The lack of trust to the
existing Internet sources is stated as primary reason for such attitude.
Unsurprisingly, we have discovered that despite relatively good understanding of drug safety
among the respondents, there is a majority demand for government-regulated, certified, freely
available source of trustworthy information regarding drugs and their consumption, as well as
two-way secure online communication with the pharmacist.
Surprisingly, low levels of Internet traffic were detected on existing pharmacy-operated web
sites, including currently the only public source on drugs in Slovenia (Agency for Medicinal
Products and medical Devices of the Republic of Slovenia - www. zdravila.net). Simultaneously,
the high degree of otherwise missing trust was associated with such information source,
indicating a strong development potential for such service.
In addition to that, statistically significant correlation was discovered between
incomprehensibility of understanding patients information leaflets (PIL) or face – to face
informations from doctors and pharmacists and the need for government-regulated, certified,
freely available source of trustworthy information regarding drugs and their consumption. Most
importantly, the research evidence clearly shows that trust to the information source and price of
the drugs are key predicting factors for online purchase.
The findings of our research are aligned with the efforts of European Pharmaceutical Forum to
prepare the regulatory framework and directions in the name of public health, to which all EU
members will have to comply, and according to which all EU members will be obliged to
provide patients and general public with certified and commercially independent source of
trustworthy information regarding drugs and their consumption.
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