A survey on feasibility of telehealth services among young Italian pharmacists
Main Article Content
Keywords
Telemedicine, Delivery of Health Care, Medically Underserved Area, Public Health, Primary Health Care, Pharmacies, Pharmaceutical Services, Pharmacists, Surveys and Questionnaires, Italy
Abstract
Background: Telemedicine is defined as “the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s health status”. This relatively new concept of healthcare is based on the fusion between medical assistance and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to provide support to people located in remote and underserved areas. It can be found not only in hospitals, but also in other healthcare facilities such as pharmacies. Starting from 2010, telemedicine or telehealth was formally introduced in the Italian pharmaceutical context with the "Pharmacy of Services Decree". In spite of this regulatory framework, the implementation of this technology was very slow and there are no data about the spreading and use of these services in Italian pharmacies.
Objective: The present study has therefore developed a survey to collect information on the diffusion of telemedicine/telehealth services within Italian pharmacies.
Methods: A two-part questionnaire in Italian was developed using SurveyMonkey, setting a mechanism aimed to have different outcomes according to the answers given. Six hundred eighty-three respondents returned the questionnaire. The results were then analysed statistically.
Results: The questionnaire results have shown a limited diffusion of telemedicine/telehealth services among Italian pharmacies and an apparently limited interest of health authorities in supporting the integration of this technology.
Conclusions: More efforts should be spent by national public health stakeholders to better analyse the contribution of telemedicine services available in public pharmacies and to find the best solutions to implement this innovative technology as an established service.
References
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31. Jandovitz N, Li H, Watts B, Monteiro J, Kohlberg D, Tsapepas D. Telemedicine pharmacy services implementation in organ transplantation at a metropolitan academic medical center. Digit Health. 2018;4:2055207618789322. Published 2018 Jul 26. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207618789322
32. Todd A, Copeland A, Husband A, Kasim A, Bambra C. Access all areas? An area-level analysis of accessibility to general practice and community pharmacy services in England by urbanity and social deprivation. BMJ Open. 2015;5(5):e007328. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007328
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34. Omboni S, Tenti M. Telepharmacy for the management of cardiovascular patients in the community. Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2019;29(2):109-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcm.2018.07.002
35. Omboni S, Tenti M, Coronetti C. Physician-pharmacist collaborative practice and telehealth may transform hypertension management. J Hum Hypertens. 2019;33(3):177-187. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-018-0147-x
36. Federfarma. [The Pharmaceutical Convention]. Available at: https://www.federfarma.it/Farmaci-e-farmacie/Farmacie-e-farmacisti-in-Italia/La-convenzione-farmaceutica.aspx (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
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40. [Continuous medical education]. Radiol Med. 2003;106:16-17.
2. Stern A, Mitsakakis N, Paulden M, Alibhai S, Wong J, Tomlinson G, Brooker AS, Krahn M, Zwarenstein M. Pressure ulcer multidisciplinary teams via telemedicine: a pragmatic cluster randomized stepped wedge trial in long term care. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014;14:83. Published 2014 Feb 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-14-83
3. Grabowski DC, O'Malley AJ. Use of telemedicine can reduce hospitalizations of nursing home residents and generate savings for medicare. Health Aff (Millwood). 2014;33(2):244-250. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0922
4. Edirippulige S, Martin-Khan M, Beattie E, Smith AC, Gray LC. A systematic review of telemedicine services for residents in long term care facilities. J Telemed Telecare. 2013;19(3):127-132. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633x13483256
5. Dorsey ER, Topol EJ. State of Telehealth. N Engl J Med. 2016;375(2):154-161. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmra1601705
6. Totten AM, Womack DM, Eden KB, McDonagh MS, Griffin JC, Grusing S, Hersh WR. AHRQ Comparative Effectiveness Technical Briefs. In: Telehealth: Mapping the Evidence for Patient Outcomes From Systematic Reviews. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2016.
7. Kane-Gill SL, Niznik JD, Kellum JA, Culley CM, Boyce RD, Marcum ZA, He H, Perera S, Handler SM. Use of Telemedicine to Enhance Pharmacist Services in the Nursing Facility. Consult Pharm. 2017;32(2):93-98. https://doi.org/10.4140/tcp.n.2017.93
8. Di Cerbo A, Morales-Medina JC, Palmieri B, Iannitti T. Narrative review of telemedicine consultation in medical practice. Patient Prefer Adherence. 2015;9:65-75. Published 2015 Jan 13. https://doi.org/10.2147/ppa.s61617
9. Moore MA, Coffman M, Jetty A, Klink K, Petterson S, Bazemore A. Family Physicians Report Considerable Interest in, but Limited Use of, Telehealth Services. J Am Board Fam Med. 2017;30(3):320-330. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2017.03.160201
10. Uscher-Pines L, Mehrotra A. Analysis of Teladoc use seems to indicate expanded access to care for patients without prior connection to a provider. Health Aff (Millwood). 2014;33(2):258-264. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0989
11. Sankaranarayanan J, Murante LJ, Moffett LM. A retrospective evaluation of remote pharmacist interventions in a telepharmacy service model using a conceptual framework. Telemed J E Health. 2014;20(10):893-901. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2013.0362
12. Martin CM, McSpadden CS. Changes in the state operations manual: implications for consultant pharmacy practice. Consult Pharm. 2006;21(12):948-961. https://doi.org/10.4140/tcp.n.2006.948
13. Clark TR. Gap analysis: assessing the value perception of consultant pharmacist services and the performance of consultant pharmacists. Consult Pharm. 2008;23(Suppl C):3-15.
14. Garattini L, Van De Vooren K, Curto A. Will the reform of community pharmacies in Italy be of benefit to patients or the Italian National Health Service? Drugs Ther Perspect 28, 23–26 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03262138
15. Federfarma. [Italian Pharmacy]. https://www.federfarma.it/Documenti/farmacia_italiana2018_19.aspx (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
16. Paolillo C. [The pharmacy of services]. Minist Heal Ital Repub. 2019;1–2.
17. Ministero della salute. [Telemedicine. National guidelines]. Available at: http://www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_pubblicazioni_2129_allegato.pdf (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
18. Baldoni S, Amenta F, Ricci G. Telepharmacy Services: Present Status and Future Perspectives: A Review. Medicina (Kaunas). 2019;55(7):327. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55070327
19. Ministero della salute. [Decree about The pharmacy of services]. Available at: http://www.trovanorme.salute.gov.it/norme/dettaglioAtto?aggiornamenti=&attoCompleto=si&id=37427 (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
20. Omboni S, Mancinelli A, Rizzi F, Parati G; TEMPLAR (TEleMonitoring of blood Pressure in Local phARmacies) Project Group. Telemonitoring of 24-Hour Blood Pressure in Local Pharmacies and Blood Pressure Control in the Community: The Templar Project. Am J Hypertens. 2019;32(7):629-639. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpz049
21. SurveyMonkey. Available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
22. Trakman GL, Forsyth A, Hoye R, Belski R. Developing and validating a nutrition knowledge questionnaire: key methods and considerations. Public Health Nutr. 2017;20(15):2670-2679. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980017001471
23. European Parliament. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=EN (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
24. ISTAT. Geographical distribution of Italian regions. Available at: http://dwcis.istat.it/cis/docs/4-8.htm (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
25. Nayak KS, Ronco C, Karopadi AN, Rosner MH. Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring: Supporting the Patient on Peritoneal Dialysis. Perit Dial Int. 2016;36(4):362-366. https://doi.org/10.3747/pdi.2015.00021
26. Nittari G, Khuman R, Baldoni S, Pallotta G, Battineni G, Sirignano A, Amenta F, Ricci G. Telemedicine Practice: Review of the Current Ethical and Legal Challenges [published online, 2020 Feb 12]. Telemed J E Health. 2020.[Ahead of Print]. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2019.0158
27. Russo JE, McCool RR, Davies L. VA Telemedicine: An Analysis of Cost and Time Savings. Telemed J E Health. 2016;22(3):209-215. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2015.0055
28. Bashshur RL, Howell JD, Krupinski EA, Harms KM, Bashshur N, Doarn CR. The Empirical Foundations of Telemedicine Interventions in Primary Care. Telemed J E Health. 2016;22(5):342-375. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2016.0045
29. Pini V. [In 15 years Italy will lose 14.000 physicians]. La Repubblica. 2019; Available at: https://www.repubblica.it/salute/medicina-e-ricerca/2019/04/18/news/se_in_italia_mancano_i_medici-224339652/ (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
30. [Alert about the lack of physicians, 45.000 will retire in 5 years]. Ansa. Available from: http://www.ansa.it/canale_saluteebenessere/notizie/sanita/2018/02/09/-allarme-carenza-medici-45.000-in-pensione-in-5-anni-_aaa943db-7592-4649-8c1e-f80f4952e196.html (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
31. Jandovitz N, Li H, Watts B, Monteiro J, Kohlberg D, Tsapepas D. Telemedicine pharmacy services implementation in organ transplantation at a metropolitan academic medical center. Digit Health. 2018;4:2055207618789322. Published 2018 Jul 26. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207618789322
32. Todd A, Copeland A, Husband A, Kasim A, Bambra C. Access all areas? An area-level analysis of accessibility to general practice and community pharmacy services in England by urbanity and social deprivation. BMJ Open. 2015;5(5):e007328. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007328
33. World Health Organization. Integrated Chronic Disease Prevention. Available at: https://www.who.int/chp/about/integrated_cd/en/ (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
34. Omboni S, Tenti M. Telepharmacy for the management of cardiovascular patients in the community. Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2019;29(2):109-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcm.2018.07.002
35. Omboni S, Tenti M, Coronetti C. Physician-pharmacist collaborative practice and telehealth may transform hypertension management. J Hum Hypertens. 2019;33(3):177-187. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-018-0147-x
36. Federfarma. [The Pharmaceutical Convention]. Available at: https://www.federfarma.it/Farmaci-e-farmacie/Farmacie-e-farmacisti-in-Italia/La-convenzione-farmaceutica.aspx (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
37. Farmacie Comunali Riunite. [National Collective Agreement for the Relations with Pharmacies]. Available at: http://www.fcr.re.it/accordo-collettivo-nazionale-per-la-disciplina-dei-rapporti-con-le-farmacie
38. [Starting of experimentation of pharmacy of services]. Available at: https://www.ordinefarmacistimilano.it/553-la-conferenza-stato-regioni-da’-il-via-alla-farmacia-dei-servizi (accessed Jul 5, 2020).
39. Merrell RC, Doarn CR. Students in Telemedicine: A Lasting Impact. Telemed J E Health. 2016;22(8):623. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2016.29010.rcm
40. [Continuous medical education]. Radiol Med. 2003;106:16-17.
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A survey on feasibility of telehealth services among young Italian pharmacists. Pharm Pract (Granada) [Internet]. 2020 Aug. 6 [cited 2024 Sep. 12];18(3):1926. Available from: https://www.pharmacypractice.org/index.php/pp/article/view/1926
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How to Cite
1.
A survey on feasibility of telehealth services among young Italian pharmacists. Pharm Pract (Granada) [Internet]. 2020 Aug. 6 [cited 2024 Sep. 12];18(3):1926. Available from: https://www.pharmacypractice.org/index.php/pp/article/view/1926