Abstract
Purpose
This study prepares the groundwork on the potential design and development of a mobile health (mHealth) app that will be able to bridge the communication gap between pharmacists and patients who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHoH).
Patients and methods
A focus group discussion was conducted with 12 community pharmacists. Participants were recruited using snowball sampling. Audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a thematic approach.
Results
Three themes were apparent: 1) suggestions for app design and content, 2) perceived benefits of the app, and 3) potential challenges related to the app. Participants believed the app would be able to facilitate and improve communication, and hence relationship, between pharmacists and the DHoH. Potential challenges of the app were highlighted, such as the need for manpower to manage the app, and its cost to this group of economically disadvantaged people. There were also concerns about privacy and security.
Conclusions
This study allowed community pharmacists, one of the end-users of the app, to provide feedback on the contents and design of the app, which would allow them to provide pharmaceutical care services to patients who are DHoH, and better serve them. Potential benefits and challenges of the app were also identified. Undoubtedly, through the mHealth app, community pharmacists will be better equipped to serve and communicate with the DHoH, and this will hopefully translate to improved health outcomes in these patients.
Supplementary material
Supplementary material S1
Interview questions
Would you be open to providing counseling or giving advice on medication through a video call?
Do you think it will ease the consultation/prescription process if patients fill forms prior to their visit?
Would you prefer to send an in-app notification or a personal text to the patients for collection of their medication?
If patients are uncertain about anything related to their medication eg, what to do in case of missed doses, contraindications, dosage etc, would you prefer providing a text description or image/video directions?
Would you utilize/recommend a booking service to schedule, reschedule and cancel appointments?
Would you offer a grab and go service at your pharmacy? If you don’t own the pharmacy, would you support/recommend offering such a service? Note: Where patients can purchase medications in-app and collect from the directed pharmacy.
If patients are uncertain about anything related to their medication eg, what to do in case of missed doses, contraindications, dosage etc, would you utilize a quick chat tool on an app?
Have you used in-app services before?
What in your opinion are the advantages and disadvantages of in-app services?
Are visuals a key factor even when the content is the same?
Would you participate in community-based interaction? For example, support groups, etc.
Would you offer delivery services? (One time/weekly/monthly plan.) If you don’t own the pharmacy, would you support/recommend offering such a service?
What kind of features would you like to see/include in a proposed app? (This can include information on medication eg, side effects, drug interactions, indications etc; monitoring required; apt dates; refill reminders.)
Any specific interfaces/design that you would like to see/use in the app?
Any ones or examples that you are currently using that you find interesting that we can adapt?
Will the cost be a factor when purchasing apps?
How much are you willing to pay for such an app?
Would your pharmacy provide such a service for free?
Should your pharmacy provide such a service for free?
Acknowledgments
The authors would to thank all of the retail pharmacists who gave their time to take part in this study. This study was funded by the Health and Wellbeing Cluster, Global Asia in the 21st Century (GA21) Platform at Monash University Malaysia. Partial publication funding was received from Leo Burnett Malaysia, HumanKind experience research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or prepara tion of the manuscript.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.