Effects of a Tele-pharmacy to Medication Compliance in Chronic Disease Patients Kutchap Hospital, Udonthani Province

Abstract

Purpose : To compare the results before and after using the tele-pharmacy service program on knowledge, attitude, and behavior and cooperation in the use of medicine, including satisfaction in using tele-pharmacy services.                    

Study design : This one group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study.                   

Materials and Methods : A sample group of 100 patients in the area of ​​responsibility of Kutchap Hospital and all Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospitals. The sample was selected by stratified random sampling from diabetic patients. Study between February, 2024 – April, 2024. The study tools were (1) a tele-pharmacy service program (2) a questionnaire regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices in using medicine. And cooperation in the use of medicine. Tools checked by experts content validity was checked using the consistency index method. Check difficulty the discriminatory power and reliability were checked by using cronbach's alpha coefficient and Kuder-Richardson correlation coefficient of 20 with reliability values ​​of 0.82 and 0.75, respectively. Analyzed general information using descriptive statistics Compare the average scores of knowledges, attitude, behavior and cooperation in using medicine using Paired t-test statistics, significant level set at less than .05.                   

Main findings : The results of the study found that (1) patients' knowledge, attitude, and drug practices had a significant increase in all aspects after the experiment (p<.001). (2) Patients had Cooperation in medication use after the trial was significantly higher than before the trial (p <.001). (3) Patients' satisfaction with tele-pharmacy services increased significantly (p <.001). And patient expenses before the research had an average cost of 61.83±28.92 to 21.96±7.96. Patients had significantly lower expenses compared to having to receive services at the hospital (p<.001).                   

Conclusion and recommendations : The results of this study indicate that tele pharmacy services are related to other multidisciplinary fields. Therefore, further studies should be conducted in collaboration with other multidisciplinary teams, with the patient at center, to enhance the appropriateness of the service system.