The patterns and determinants of telemedicine use during the COVID-19 crisis: A nationwide study.

BACKGROUND: Although telemedicine services have been adopted on a large scale in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a little is known about the public experience. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate consumers' patterns, nature, and predictors of telemedicine utilization and consumers' attitude toward this technology. METHODS: A quantitative, self-administered questionnaire was developed, validated, and delivered randomly to adults living across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between January 2021 and January 2022. The questionnaire included questions about categories of telemedicine used, purpose of use, challenges encountered during the use of telemedicine, and reasons for not using telemedicine technology. We adopted a proportionate random sampling technique to recruit participants by 3 ways: social media, phone calls, and face to face. RESULTS: The final dataset included 1584 participants, of which 496 (31.3%) used telemedicine during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The most common reasons for not using telemedicine during COVID-19 was having no idea that telemedicine exists (38.3%, 417 of 1088) or having no idea how to use it (33.5%, 365 of 1088). Telemedicine users reported that that telepharmacy (89.7%), teleconsultation (78.2%), and telediagnosis (23.0%) were the most frequently used telemedicine services during the COVID-19 crisis. Of the 496 telemedicine users, 469 (94.6%) reported using telemedicine for seeking a pharmacist advice about medication instructions, 422 (85.1%) for ordering nonprescription drugs, and 401 (80.8%) for seeking a physician advice. Those with high activity on social media were less likely to be associated with telemedicine users versus nonusers. DISCUSSION: Although telepharmacy has been increasingly used by consumers, more attention is needed to fix its limitations and improve patient safety. CONCLUSION: This study shows a positive attitude and a general acceptance of telemedicine services among the UAE population. Some sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were significantly associated with the use of telemedicine during the pandemic.

Assessment of A new Strategy to Prevent Prescribing Errors Involving COVID-19 Patients in Community Pharmacies.

Background: Because COVID-19 patients are vulnerable to prescribing errors (PEs) and adverse drug events, designing and implementing a new approach to prevent prescribing errors (PEs) involving COVID-19 patients has become a priority in pharmacotherapy research. Objectives: To investigate whether using WhatsApp to deliver prescribing error (PE)-related clinical scenarios to community pharmacists could enhance their ability to detect PEs and conduct successful pharmaceutical interventions (PIs). Methods: In this study, 110 community pharmacies were recruited from different regions across Jordan and equally allocated to 2 groups. Over the course of 4 weeks, WhatsApp was used to send PEs-related clinical case scenarios to the active group. The second group was controlled with no clinical scenarios. After completion of the 4-week phase, pharmacists from both groups were asked to document PEs in COVID-19 patients and their interventions using a data-collection form. Results: The incidence of PEs in COVID-19 patients documented in the active group (18.54%) was higher than that reported in the control group (3.09%) (P = .001). Of the 6598 and 968 PIs conducted by participants working in the active and control group pharmacies, 6013 (91.13%) and 651 (67.25%) were accepted, respectively. The proportions of wrong drug (contraindication), wrong drug (unnecessary drug prescribed/no proof of its benefits), and omission of a drug between the active and control groups were 15.30% versus 7.21% (P = .001), 11.85% versus 6.29% (P = .03), and 17.78% versus 10.50% (0.01), respectively. Additionally, the proportions of lethal, serious, and significant errors were 0.74% versus 0.35% (P = .04), 10.52% versus 2.57% (0.002), and 47.88% versus 9.57% (0.001), respectively. Addition of drug therapy interventions (AOR = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.21-0.84) and errors with significant clinical seriousness (AOR = 0.32; 95% CI, 0.16-0.64). Conclusions PEs involving COVID-19 patients in community settings are common and clinically significant. The intervention assessed in this study could be promising for designing a feasible and time-efficient interventional tool to encourage pharmacists' involvement in identifying and correcting PEs in light of COVID-19.

Pharmacists-physicians collaborative intervention to reduce vaccine hesitancy and resistance: A randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: Given their negative influence on community health, vaccine hesitancy and resistance are emerging challenges that require healthcare intervention. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of physician-pharmacist collaborative health coaching on rates of hesitancy and resistance for a COVID-19 vaccine. METHODS: After an initial assessment of rates of hesitancy and resistance for a COVID-19 vaccine was conducted, hesitant and resistant participants were approached, recruited, and randomized into an active and control group. Pharmacists-physicians collaborative coaching intervention was delivered to active group subjects over two months through Facebook live sessions. The outcome measures were assessed in both groups before coaching, directly after coaching, and a month after coaching. RESULTS: The proportions of hesitancy and resistance for a COVID-19 vaccine among subjects in the active group were significantly reduced from 64.3% and 35.7% before coaching to 20.1% and 7.8% directly after coaching, respectively. These proportions were further reduced to 11.1% and 3.3% a month after coaching, respectively. Furthermore, the mean scores for knowledge on, and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine were significantly increased from 4.6 ± 1.8 and 4.1 ± 1.7 before coaching to 7.5 ± 3.1 and 8.9 ± 3.8 directly after coaching, respectively. However, the change in mean score of beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines among active group subjects was not significant. CONCLUSION: High rates of hesitancy and resistance for a COVID-19 vaccine were found in Jordan. These rates can be significantly reduced through online pharmacists-physicians collaborative coaching, which can also improve knowledge of and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines.

Virtual Coaching Delivered by Pharmacists to Prevent COVID-19 Transmission.

Background: While the role of pharmacists in the current pandemic control has been recognized worldwide, their coaching efforts to improve public's behaviors that could prevent COVID-19 transmission has been rarely investigated. Objectives: To assess whether pharmacist-based virtual health coaching sessions could increase the proportion of people who practised healthy social behaviors, to test whether this model can increase the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines, and to measure whether these behaviors could actually prevent contracting COVID-19. Method: In this randomized controlled trial, adults who matched specific criteria were randomly allocated into 2 arms. The active arm received 12 pharmacist-based virtual coaching sessions delivered via Zoom® over a month. Participants allocated to the control arm received no coaching. At the end of the last coaching session, both groups were asked to complete a structured questionnaire for outcome assessment. Participants in the active group were followed up to 2 weeks after the end of the last coaching session to check if they contracted COVID-19 or not. The SPSS software version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 300 participants who gave consent for participation, 295 completed the study (147 from the active arm and 148 from the control arm). The proportion of those using face masks, avoiding crowds, and willing to be isolated if infected in the active arm was increased from 51.70%, 53.74%, and 59.86% at baseline to 91.83%, 80.27%, and 96.59% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). In addition, the proportion of behaviors, such as disinfecting surfaces, not touching the T-zone, and avoid sharing personal belongings with colleagues at work was increased from 36.05%, 27.89%, and 46.93% at baseline to 63.94%, 52.38%, and 87.75% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). Avoid touching the T-zone (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.89) and using disposable tissues (OR = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.18-0.77), each versus using face masks appropriately were more likely to get COVID-19. Conclusion: Pharmacist-based virtual health coaching could be a potential strategy to increase the proportion of behaviors that could curtail the spread of COVID-19.