Outpatient pharmaceutical care satisfaction survey through Telepharmacy during COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

ABSTRACT

Objective: To present the results of a survey about the Telemedicine outpatients experience and satisfaction of a pharmaceutical care program through Telepharmacy, carried out from hospital pharmacy departments in Spain during COVID-19 Pandemic (ENOPEX survey), and identify differences across regions in Spain. Method(s) An analysis of results of the national survey ENOPEX on outpatient Telepharmacy services during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzed by autonomous community in Spain. Data was collected in relation to point of delivery;pharmacotherapeutic follow-up;patient's opinion and satisfaction with Telemedicine;confidentiality;future development of pharmaceutical care, through Telepharmacy services;and coordination with the patient care team. Four multilevel regressions were performed to evaluate the differences between Spanish regions on the most relevant variables of the study, using the R version 4.0.3 software. Result(s) A total of 8, 079 interviews were valid, 52.8% of respondents were female, age was 41-65 years in 54.3% of participants;42.7% had been receiving treatment for more than 5 years;42.8% lived 10-50 km from the hospital;the journey to hospital took more than one hour for 60.2% of participants. Globally, 85.7% received medicines at home. However, medicines were delivered at a community pharmacy in some communities, such as Cantabria (95.8%), or at primary care centers as in Castile La Mancha (16.5%). In total, 96.7% of participants were satisfied or very satisfied with Telemedicine pharmaceutical care, through Telepharmacy services, with differences across communities, with users in Andalusia reporting the highest satisfaction (OR = 1.58), and users in Castile-Leon being less satisfied with Telepharmacy services (OR = 0.66). Users in Catalonia are the ones more clearly in favor of Telemedicine pharmaceutical care, through Telepharmacy services as a complementary service, with an OR = 5.85 with respect to other users. The Telemedicine most frequently mentioned advantage was that Telepharmacy services avoided visits, especially in Cantabria (92.5%) and Extremadura (88.4%). Most patients prefer informed delivery of medicines at home when they do not have an appointment at the hospital total of 75.6 %, from 50.1% of users in Cantabria to 96.3% in Catalonia (p < 0.001). The users less willing to pay for Telepharmacy services were the ones from Castile-Leon and Galicia, with users in Catalonia and Navarra showing higher willingness. Conclusion(s) In general terms, patients were satisfied with Telemedicine pharmaceutical care, through Telepharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic, being mostly in favor of maintaining these services to avoid travels. Copyright © 2022 Grupo Aula Medica S.L.. All rights reserved.