Community pharmacists' views on the implementation of a national electronic prescription transfer system to pharmacies: A cross-sectional survey.

INTRODUCTION

Legislation was implemented in Ireland in April 2020 to permit electronic prescription transfer (EPT) from prescribers directly to pharmacies using a national secure email system (Healthmail). With a clear need to assess how this initiative affected patient care delivery, this study aimed to evaluate community pharmacists' views of EPT to pharmacies via Healthmail.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey was disseminated via email in November 2020 to all Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland pharmacist registrants with 'community pharmacy' as their practice area (n = 3780). Descriptive statistics were performed on closed-ended questions. Free-text comments underwent conventional content analysis.

RESULTS

From 494 responses, most agreed it was an efficient and convenient method of prescription transfer (89.7%), 81.8% agreed it had successfully integrated into dispensary workflow, and 75.8% preferred receiving prescriptions in this way compared to other methods. While 94.7% agreed it was a positive step for pharmacy practice, key points from the open comments included concerns with identifying the sender of prescriptions and the need to better manage patient expectations on prescription processing times. The majority believed that patients did not have enough information about Healthmail (70.5%) and 63.2% perceived that it has led to patients feeling less involved in the decision-making related to their care.

CONCLUSION

This study indicates that pharmacists were mostly positive about the national introduction of EPT to pharmacies, while also perceiving concerns regarding its potential negative impact on patients' medication management. Further guidance for all stakeholders should be considered a high priority when implementing EPT to achieve best practices.