PulseExploreJournal ClubDebatesTrendingResearchersJournals
Instagram
HomeExploreJournal ClubTrending
Synapse
⌘+K
Synapse
May 16, 2026Healthcare0 citationsOpen Access

Community Pharmacists’ Acceptance of Telemedicine-Enabled Medication Dispensing in Jordan: A Mixed-Methods Study of Patient Safety Concerns, Implementation Barriers, and Required Safeguards

View Full Paper
HAHayam A. AlrasheedWDWael Abu DayyihZMZekrayat J. H. Merdas

Key Points

  • The study aims to evaluate Jordanian community pharmacists' acceptance of telemedicine-enabled medication dispensing and identify safety concerns and barriers to implementation.
  • Convergent mixed-methods design used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.
  • Cross-sectional online survey completed by 350 licensed pharmacists with an 83.3% response rate.
  • Semi-structured interviews conducted with 22 purposively sampled pharmacists until thematic saturation was reached.
  • Only 28.3% of pharmacists were willing to participate in telemedicine under current conditions.
  • Severe implementation barriers were identified, with 92.0% highlighting regulatory ambiguity as a major concern.
  • Facilitators like mandatory pharmacist verification were strongly endorsed by 94.6% of pharmacists.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Telemedicine-enabled medication dispensing and delivery was formally regulated in Jordan in 2025, but the Jordan Pharmacists Association publicly rejected the pharmacy-related provisions because of concerns about safety, liability, and the pharmacist’s professional role. This study evaluated community pharmacists’ acceptance of the regulated model and identified perceived patient safety risks, implementation barriers, and required safeguards. Methods: A convergent mixed-methods design was used. A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 350 licensed community pharmacists (response rate 83.3%). The questionnaire assessed willingness to participate, perceived patient safety risks, implementation barriers, and facilitators using 5-point Likert scales. Multivariable logistic regression examined predictors of willingness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 purposively sampled pharmacists until thematic saturation. Quantitative and qualitative findings were integrated using joint displays. Results: Only 28.3% of pharmacists were willing to participate under current conditions, 46.9% were unwilling, and 24.9% expressed conditional acceptance; 52.0% opposed national implementation. Patient safety concerns were great (mean 4.4 ± 0.6/5), especially regarding remote patient assessment (91.4%) and medication errors (88.9%). Implementation barriers were severe (mean 4.5 ± 0.5/5), mainly regulatory ambiguity (92.0%) and unclear liability (89.7%). Facilitators were strongly endorsed (mean 4.7 ± 0.4/5), particularly mandatory pharmacist verification (94.6%) and clear legal protections (93.4%). Qualitative findings reinforced pharmacists’ role as the “final safety checkpoint” and showed acceptance depended on strong safeguards. Conclusions: Jordanian pharmacists showed principled resistance to the current model. Acceptance depends on pharmacist oversight, legal clarity, and infrastructure readiness.

Ask AI
Helpful
Bookmark
Share
View Full Paper

Cite This Study

Alrasheed et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a0809bea487c87a6a40b95ehttps://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare14101346
Ask AI
Helpful
Bookmark
Share
View Full Paper