Community pharmacists' attitudes, prior experience, and perceived barriers to informatics: A cross-sectional study from a developing country

Abstract

BackgroundPatient-centered care and integrating health informatics are essential to delivering high-quality healthcare services and improving patient outcomes. Despite their crucial role, research on health informatics in community settings is limited in Jordan, emphasizing the necessity for evaluating the state of pharmacy informatics. PurposeThe study aimed to evaluate community pharmacists' prior experience, attitudes, and perceived barriers to adopting information technology in their practice. MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted from August to November 2020 to assess community pharmacists' prior experience, attitudes, and perceived barriers to using information technology to enhance their daily practice. ResultsA total of 431 Community pharmacists participated in the study. Most of the participants were female (68.7%), aged 25 to 35 (53.8%), and having 5–10 years of professional experience (47.1%). Only 12.8% had prior experience with health informatics. The majority agreed that health informatics systems would be clear and understandable to use (84 %), limit drug addiction (82.1%), facilitate data exchange between physicians and pharmacists (81.7%), and enhance medication safety (82.1%). However, over two-thirds of participants agreed on potential barriers to implementing health information technology in their daily practice, such as technology difficulties (71.2%), resistance to change (73.8%), and a lack of competencies (77.5%). Statistically significant relationships were found between positive attitudes and age (p = 0.001), gender (0.004), experience duration (p = 0.001), and education level (p = 0.001). Apart from the workplace, sociodemographic characteristics were significantly associated with perceived barriers to implementing health informatics (p < 0.05). Pharmacists' positive attitudes and full-time work schedule were significantly associated with the adoption of health informatics. ConclusionPharmacists' positive attitudes in this study encourage the adoption of pharmacy informatics systems and the integration of technology in pharmacy practice in developing countries for better patient care. Addressing identified barriers will require research and effective regulations directed to stakeholders.