A Usability Study of Pharmacists’ Perceptions Toward an Online Course for Respiratory Infections and Antibiotic Use

Usability of APIMedOlder: A Web Application to Manage Potentially Inappropriate Medication in Older Adults

INTRODUCTION

Considering the increase in the proportion of the older population worldwide, the demand for health system resources also arises. These tools optimize clinical decision-making, thus avoiding iatrogenesis and thus contributing to a better quality of life for the older population. In response, we created an online web application, the APIMedOlder, that provides access to healthcare professionals to allow healthcare professionals to access potentially inappropriate medication identification criteria through a useful tool with a simplified profile, allowing its applicability in clinical practice. This study aims to assess the usability of the APIMedOlder online web application by healthcare professionals.

METHODS

A questionnaire, based on the System Usability Scale, was distributed among 15 healthcare professionals (five pharmacists, four physicians, three pharmacy technicians, and three nurses), to fully explore the website.

RESULTS

Overall, healthcare professionals' evaluation of the usability of the APIMedOlder online web application was rated as "Best imaginable" (mean score of 87.17 points), with individual scores ranging from 75 to 100 points. Internal consistency of α = 0.881 (CI 95%: 0.766 - 0.953) was achieved. Specific questionnaire items contributing to this high score included ease of use, learning efficiency, and integration of functions.

CONCLUSION

The overall evaluation of the developed tool was positive, with this online application being recognized as being easy to use and having well-integrated functions.

eHealthResp, a Digital Intervention to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing in Respiratory Infections: A Pilot Study

The emergence of antibiotic resistance (ABR) is one of the most serious public health threats worldwide. The inappropriate use of antibiotics is considered the main determinant for the increase and development of ABR, contributing to a greater risk of therapeutic ineffectiveness, particularly within primary care context. Therefore, this pilot study aims to raise awareness and promote an adequate antibiotic use among physicians, through the evaluation of the eHealthResp platform, a digital intervention composed by an online course and a mobile application, to aid in the management of respiratory tract infections. The global validation of the eHealthResp platform was carried out by 12 physicians who explored and performed a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the contents of the online course and mobile app. The global evaluation of the analyzed parameters was very positive, with the highest median scores being attributed to adequacy, correction, format, and trust of the eHealthResp platform. The qualitative feedback enhanced the contents’ relevance, clarity, and consolidation, as well as the effectiveness of the educational intervention against ABR. Overall, this study revealed that the eHealthResp may be regarded as an important e-health tool for the management of respiratory tract infections and improvement of antibiotic prescription practices among physicians.

Improving Pharmacists’ Awareness of Inadequate Antibiotic Use for URTIs through an Educational Intervention: A Pilot Study

The inadequate use of antibiotics led to the development of multi-resistant bacteria that are now causing millions of deaths worldwide. Since most antibiotics are prescribed/dispensed to treat respiratory tract infections, it is important to raise awareness among health professionals to optimize antibiotic use, especially within the primary care context. Thus, this pilot study aimed to evaluate pharmacists’ feedback about the eHealthResp platform, composed by an online course and a mobile application (app) to help in the management of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Ten community pharmacists were invited to participate in this study, exploring the contents of the eHealthResp platforms and answering a content validation questionnaire composed by eight qualitative and thirty-five quantitative questions about the online course and mobile app. The eHealthResp platform is a comprehensive, consistent, and high-quality e-learning tool. Median scores of 5.00 were attributed to the course contents’ and clinical cases’ adequacy and correction. Most qualitative feedback was about completeness and objectivity of the course, and its usefulness for clinical practice. This study showed that eHealthResp has great potential as an e-health tool for the management of URTIs’ symptoms, which may ultimately aid in reducing inappropriate antibiotic use.

Exploration on the Influencing Factors of Overseas Students' Online Chinese Learning Intention During the Epidemic Period

In the information age, online teaching has become an essential field of educational development. The work aims to analyze the factors influencing learning intention of Overseas Students (OSs) during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The work adopts the method of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and implements the influencing factor model of open source software online Chinese learning (OCL). Specifically, the OSs of five colleges and universities in Fuzhou are taken as the research objects. The data is collected through questionnaire survey (QS) and Spss25.0 to analyze the reliability and validity of the data, and Amos23.0 is used to validate the model. The results present that autonomy and self-discipline have become the necessary factors affecting open source software OCL, and personal interests and hobbies are the main factors affecting open source software OCL. Meantime, perceived interest, self-learning management, effort expectation, community influence, performance expectation, and promotion conditions have a significant positive impact on the willingness to promote Chinese learning, and their influence degree increases in turn. The conclusion can provide a novel online teaching and learning strategy for open source software under the COVID-19 situation.

A roadmap for the development and evaluation of the eHealthResp online course

Background

Inappropriate antibiotic use constitutes one of the most concerning public health issues, being one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance. Hence, to tackle this issue, it is important to encourage the development of educational interventions for health practitioners, namely by using digital health tools. This study focuses on the description of the development and validation process of the eHealthResp online course, a web platform directed to physicians and pharmacists, with the overall goal of improving antibiotic use for respiratory tract infections, along with the assessment of its usability.

Methods

The eHealthResp platform and the courses, developed with a user-centered design and based on Wordpress and MySQL, were based on a previously developed online course. A questionnaire to assess the usability was distributed among physicians (n = 6) and pharmacists (n = 6). Based on the obtained results, statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the usability score and appraise the design of the online course, as well as to compare the overall scores attributed by both groups. Further qualitative comments provided by the participants have also been analyzed.

Results

The eHealthResp contains two online courses directed to physicians and pharmacists aiming to aid in the management of respiratory tract infections. The average usability score of the eHealthResp online courses for physicians and pharmacists was of 78.33 (±11.57, 95%CI), and 83.75 (±15.90, 95%CI), respectively. Qualitative feedback emphasized the usefulness of the course, including overall positive reviews regarding user-friendliness and consistency.

Conclusions

This study led us to conclude that the eHealthResp online course is not recognized as a complex web platform, as both qualitative and quantitative feedback obtained were globally positive.

Validation of the eHealthResp online course for pharmacists and physicians: A Delphi method approach

FRAMEWORK

The inappropriate use of antibiotics for respiratory tract infections is dispersed worldwide, thus being a strong contributor to antibiotic resistances. As the use of educational interventions among health practitioners is shown to have an impact on judicious antibiotic use, an online course (eHealthResp) has been developed, especially targeted to pharmacists and physicians. Thus, the main goal of this study is to validate the contents of the online course eHealthResp.

METHODS

This two-round Delphi study involved the recruitment of a multidisciplinary panel (n = 19), to which the questionnaires of the first round were sent. After the first round, a report summing up the results has been forwarded to the panel, along with a new, reformulated version of the questionnaire.

RESULTS

After the two rounds of the Delphi process, consensus was evaluated. Six clinical cases and fifty-one treatments obtained minor consensus [60-75%] or full consensus (≥75%). The question on antibiotic practice has obtained a consensus >90% on both rounds.

CONCLUSIONS

The validation of the contents based on experts' consensus has been an essential approach to improve eHealthResp's online course, as valuable feedback has been provided by the panel on both rounds.