Remote Working among Hospital Pharmacists: A New Way of Working / 社会薬学

ABSTRACT

Home-based and in hospital pharmacists at our hospital pharmacy participated in this study. A survey of the home-based pharmacists’ work contents was tabulated from November 2019 to May 2021. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey was administered within the pharmacy in May 2020. 90% of the hospital pharmacists would consider some drug information management to be able to work from home. Moreover, evaluation of the questionnaires revealed that more than 90% of the in-hospital pharmacists were “satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with deliverables of home-based pharmacists. The in-hospital pharmacists found communication tools (e.g., social networking services, telephone, and web-conferencing systems) to be useful for facilitating collaboration with the home-based pharmacist. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the internet environment to work from home. Moreover, it is important to create an environment where pharmacists can work from home according to their desire and needs in cases such as childcare, nursing care, during treatment, and during a pandemic. This study indicates that hospital pharmacists can carry out their responsibilities and demonstrate their work abilities not only in the hospital pharmacy setting but also in a remote working environment.