Department of Pharmaceutical Care, Walailak University, Tha Sala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand.
Drug and Cosmetics Excellence Center, Walailak University, Tha Sala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, Thailand.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 20;19(20):13571. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192013571.
The COVID-19 pandemic has limited healthcare services for patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Hospital pharmacy departments in Thailand apply a new normal pharmacy service known as "telepharmacy" to serve remote pharmacy practice and deliver medication to patients. Current knowledge clearly shows the benefit of each medicine delivery method, but the study of patient's desires and attitudes towards all drug delivery methods is still limited. To fill the gap, this study aims to investigate desires and attitudes about drug delivery methods among Thai patients living with NCDs who need regular and continuous care. The sample was included by accidentally randomized technique at NCD clinics of the southern Thailand tertiary care hospital. Data were collected between January and March 2021 by a questionnaire that contained three sections: the currently received medicine delivery method, the desires and attitudes about the medicine delivery system, and patients' demographic information. The majority of patients were women aged 60 years who earned less than 10,000 THB (263.85 USD), were enrolled in the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS), lived 0-15 km from the hospital, living with hypertension, had 1-4 prescribed medications, visited the doctor every 3 months, and received the conventional drug delivery method. The result showed that only the subdistrict health promotion hospital (SHPH) medicine delivery method was at a high level of desire, while the rest including conventional, drug store, postal pharmacy, and drive-thru medicine delivery methods were at medium. Attitudes toward the quality of medicine delivery methods consisted of five dimensions: confidence, timeliness, reliability, empathy, and facilities. Thai NCD patients had positive attitudes toward SHPH and drug store medicine delivery methods that could be seen from the high level of attitude score across all dimensions, while postal pharmacy and drive-thru delivery methods received medium-level attitude scores across all five dimensions.
新冠疫情对非传染性疾病（NCD）患者的医疗服务造成了限制。泰国的医院药房部门采用了一种新的常态药房服务，称为“远程配药”，以提供远程药房实践并向患者提供药物。目前的知识清楚地表明了每种药物输送方法的好处，但对患者对所有药物输送方法的愿望和态度的研究仍然有限。为了填补这一空白，本研究旨在调查需要定期和持续护理的泰国 NCD 患者对药物输送方法的愿望和态度。该样本通过在泰国南部三级护理医院的 NCD 诊所采用偶然随机技术纳入。数据收集于 2021 年 1 月至 3 月之间，采用包含三个部分的问卷进行：目前接受的药物输送方法、对药物输送系统的愿望和态度以及患者的人口统计学信息。大多数患者为年龄在 60 岁的女性，收入低于 10000 泰铢（263.85 美元），参加公务员医疗福利计划（CSMBS），居住在距离医院 0-15 公里的地方，患有高血压，有 1-4 种处方药物，每三个月看一次医生，并接受常规药物输送方法。结果表明，只有分区卫生促进医院（SHPH）的药物输送方法的需求程度较高，而其余包括常规、药店、邮政药房和免下车药物输送方法的需求程度中等。对药物输送方法质量的态度包括五个维度：信心、及时性、可靠性、同理心和设施。泰国 NCD 患者对 SHPH 和药店药物输送方法持积极态度，这可以从所有维度的高态度评分中看出，而邮政药房和免下车配送方法在所有五个维度上的态度评分均为中等。
