Perceptions of Healthcare Professionals and People on Online Pharmacy Services of Thai Community Pharmacies in New Normal Lifestyle

Abstract

Background: The behaviour of consumers seems to be changed as a result of the pandemic of the COVID-19 that has spread across Thailand since the beginning of 2020, it was found that the number of consumers who bought products including pharmaceutical products through online platforms increasingly. However, the Thai law do not allow online medicine sale while some countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada permit online pharmacies as under certain conditions or has specific laws and regulation for medicine distribution. Therefore, whether the Thai law and regulation is to be revised in accordance with the new normal lifestyle era, both positive and negative impacts must be study to establish preventive measures to solve the problems.

Objective: To explore the opinions and perspectives of healthcare professionals and people on the health services of pharmacies in the form of providing online medicine sale services.

Research Method: This study was a survey research by using Google Form questionnaire via a target group of healthcare professionals and people. The survey period was 8 days, used convenient randomised sampling of 400 samples with a confidence level of 95%, of which 711 samples were collected.

Results: The results were summarised as follows: the first part, general information, there were 711 survey respondents, 27.43% male, 69.76% female, 2.81% unspecified, mostly in the age range of 30-50 years, 61.32%.at the bachelor's degree level, 60.76%. The second part was general knowledge survey about drug sales laws, of which 84.39% knew that selling drugs must be licensed. There was a pharmacist on duty to control the selling drugs. The online pharmacies were not allowed. The third part was a survey to study the general behaviour of shopping via online platforms. It was found that 75.53% of people used to buy products and 22.22% used to buy medicines. The age range of 30-40 years was the most buyers, which was 80.45%. When sorting out the popularity of the platform, it was found that Shopee was the most at 63.99%. The factor which most people considered before making a decision to purchase a product/service was the price factor accounted for 81.15%. The last part was a study of opinions on the amendment of the law, it found that 68.35% agreed with. The most chosen positive impact was the cost savings and travel time. Most selective negative impact was to increase the risk of drug abuse. The most necessary measures of laws and regulations on online pharmacies was to prepare the list of medicines that were prohibited selling.

Conclusion: Most respondents as a pharmacist and people, two third of survey respondents agreed to allow the sale of pharmaceutical products through online platforms. This study suggests such as organising an audit system, also verifying the identity and duties of a pharmacist. Classification of drugs that could be sale or the platform used should be specifically designed.