Pharmaceutical counselling through a videoconference call : A feasibility study

Abstract: Background: It is well known that patients' adherence to chronic drug treatment is low and in developed countries it is estimated to be 50 percent. In other European countries, pharmaceutical services are already offered but this is not done in Sweden yet. The pharmaceutical services are aimed at specific patient groups to improve drug utilization and adherence in patients with chronic drug treatment.  Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether it was feasible to develop and conduct pharmaceutical counselling through a videoconference call since pharmaceutical services have not been offered through videoconference calls before.Method: Material for the intervention was developed by the researcher. The study was conducted during October and November 2021, customers were recruited from two pharmacies in Uppsala. The intervention was evaluated based on how the pharmacist and customers used the material developed for the pharmaceutical service. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate customers experience of the pharmaceutical service  Results: The five customers who participated in the study were satisfied with the experience of the pharmaceutical service and thought the technology worked well. However, customers had different experiences of how useful the material developed for the service was. Conclusion: It was feasible to offer pharmaceutical counselling as a videoconference call. However, the study population was small and had little diversity. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical service in terms of improved adherence and drug utilization.