Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Pharmacists towards the Use and Integration of E-Prescription Systems in Pakistan

Background: E-prescription system is a step towards digitalization of health system. Since pharmacists play central role in management of medication system, they can play a vital role in implementation of the system. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of pharmacists towards the use & integration of e-prescription systems in Pakistan & to identify barriers to adoption of e-prescription system and strategies to remove these barriers. Methodology: The descriptive & cross-sectional study design was conducted among 426 pharmacists who are practicing in different health care setups & belong to different province of Pakistan. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation & Kruskal-Wallis test was performed and data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Out of 426 pharmacists, 279 (65.5%) were females, majority (268, 62.9%) were in the age group of 18-30 years. Majority of the pharmacists are at early level of their career with 1-5 years of experience (274, 64.3%). The mean scores for knowledge, attitude and practice were 4.4,4 & 2.6.  The results shows good knowledge level, positive attitude and poor practice levels of pharmacists across different provinces. Province & number of years of experience were significantly associated with practice levels whereas age & type of practice setting were significantly associated with both knowledge and practice levels. Weak significant & moderate significant correlation were found between knowledge-attitude (r=0.124) and knowledge-practice(r=0.318). Barriers to adopt e-prescription were also identified and strategies to overcome these barriers in implementation of e-prescription were also addressed. Conclusion: The findings shows that there is poor practice levels of pharmacists towards e-prescription use, although they show willingness towards its use (positive attitude) and have good knowledge level. Improvement of infrastructure, training workshops & policy development are needed to bridge this gap.