Public perceptions about home delivery of medications service in Lebanon: A cross-sectional survey
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Rana Abu-Farha 1 * , Karem H Alzoubi 2 3 , Tareq Mukattash 3 , Samar Karout 4 , Rania Itani 4 , Razan I Nassar 1 , Muna Barakat 1
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1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Science Private University, Amman, JORDAN2 Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacotherapeutics, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE3 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, JORDAN4 Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beirut Arab University, Beirut, LEBANON* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the public’s perception of home delivery of medication service offered by community pharmacies in Lebanon and to assess factors affecting the use of this service.
Methods: The present study represents a cross-sectional online survey study that took place in April-May 2022. The survey was uploaded on the google form platform and was distributed on popular social media platforms (Facebook and WhatsApp). Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire to evaluate their awareness and perception of home delivery of medication service. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 22.
Results: During the study period, 517 participants agreed to fill out the study questionnaire. Only 18.4% of the study’s participants (n=95) had previously utilized home delivery of medications service. The majority of the participants believed that home delivery service made pharmacists less accessible to answer questions (n=332, 64.2%), and prevented pharmacists from explaining important points about prescriptions (n=322, 62.3%) compared to in-store refills. The main disadvantage of the service as perceived by the participants that home delivery of medications services is associated with the excessive cost of transporting medication (n=385, 74.5%), while the main advantage of this service is its ability to serve sick patients, elderly, disabled people (n=460, 88.9%). Finally, being female, being a university graduate or above, or having a monthly income of more than 500$/month are significantly associated with utilizing home delivery of medication service (p≤0.05).
Conclusion: The majority of the Lebanese participants reported not utilizing the home delivery of medication service before, however, they have positively perceived medication home delivery service as an efficient pharmaceutical service. Serious efforts are needed by health policymakers to facilitate the implementation of this service in Lebanon.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 20, Issue 1, February 2023, Article No: em430

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/12635

Publication date: 01 Jan 2023

Online publication date: 13 Nov 2022

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Article Downloads: 969

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