Abstract:
Background: In recent years, the healthcare sector has experienced tremendous digital transformation. Increasing digital health solutions and technologies has made revolutionized the outlook and understanding, as well as the ability to provide improved and sustainable quality healthcare which includes the delivery of pharmaceutical care services. Hence, it is important to understand the current level of perception of digital health in pharmacy education among pharmacy students who are going into the pharmaceutical workforce. Objective: The study was intended to evaluate the perceptions of Asian pharmacy students on digital health and digital health competencies. Methods: It was a mixed-methods study conducted online through a self-administered survey targeted toward pharmacy students in Asian countries. The online survey questionnaire had both qualitative and quantitative items. The pharmacy students from approved universities in Asian countries who are willing to participate in this survey were included. Results: The study survey received 304 responses. More than three-fourths of the respondents understood and were familiar with eHealth (n=226, 74.34%). In addition to that, the majority of the respondents saw the advantage of the use of "Big data", "Telehealth", and "mHealth" in the future. In terms of the implementation of eHealth in the pharmacy curriculum, 80.59% (n=245) of the respondents were in favour since nearly 80% of respondents had received less than 5 hours of eHealth training. Conclusion: The findings in this study have demonstrated that digital health-related components in the pharmacy curriculum need to be improved and the digital health literacy among Asian pharmacy students ranged from acceptable to reasonable levels. Furthermore, the majority of students favour and anticipate the implementation of eHealth education in the pharmacy curriculum.
Keywords: Digitalization, health, technology, healthcare, pharmacy.
