Pharmacists’ Perceptions Towards Online Health Information in Miri Hospital

Abstract

Introduction:

Pharmacy professionals widely use the internet for seeking health-related information, obtaining professional updates, accessing the latest research, treatment information, or latest product. The enormous online information available may be overwhelming, leading to stressful situations in terms of filtering, selecting sound output in making decision. Hence, it is vital to study pharmacists’ perceptions and the employment of Internet technologies in hospital pharmacy practice in order to ensure appropriate use of the Internet in daily pharmacy practice.

Objective:

The objective of the study is to assess pharmacists’ perceptions towards online health information and to identify the barriers when retrieving online health information.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was done involving pharmacists (Fully Registered Pharmacists and Provisionally Registered Pharmacists) in Miri Hospital. Data collection was done based on questionnaire fully adapted from a validated questionnaire. However, we only focused on the pharmacists’ perceptions towards online health information and the barriers encountered when retrieving online health information. We applied both descriptive and inferential statistics for data analysis. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics Version 21.

Results:

A total of 50 pharmacists in Miri Hospital participated in this survey study. The primary barrier reported by respondents in this study was scanning through the abundance of health information from the Internet. We found a significant association between ethnicity and the provision of useful information by Internet (p=0.048). Significant association was also observed between gender and distraction by the links to other sources (p=0.011). Respondents’ educational level was found to be statistically associated with statement on unsure how to filter online health information (p=0.014).

Conclusion:

The current study demonstrated a positive perception towards online health information among hospital pharmacists in which the majority of the respondents used the Internet frequently for searching health information. Thus, future studies can be carried out to focus on the information searching behaviours and patterns as well as the relevant associated factors, in order to ensure the information retrieved is reliable with good quality to help in promoting a safer use of Internet in pharmacy practice.