[Hospital Pharmacy Departments on the internet. An unfinished business?]

Farm Hosp. 2004 Jul-Aug;28(4):286-90.
[Article in Spanish]

Abstract

Objective: To establish the percentage of Pharmacy Departments with a web site on the Net, and to analyze whether their contents are focused on the development of pharmaceutical care activities for outpatients.

Methods: Cross-sectional study based on multiple Internet searches using the Copernic version 6.0 software, as well as on directories listing hospital- and pharmacy department-owned web sites.

Results: Amongst 452 hospitals with 100 or more beds, 198 (43.8%) hospital web pages and 52 (11.52%) pharmacy department web sites were found. The contents of pharmacy department sites were usually deficient, and only rarely was interaction with outpatients envisaged.

Conclusion: The presence of pharmacy departments on the Internet is scarce. Telepharmacy or pharmaceutical care for outpatients using novel information technologies remains underdeveloped by Spanish pharmacy departments.

MeSH terms

  • Ambulatory Care
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Diffusion of Innovation
  • Hospital-Patient Relations
  • Humans
  • Internet / standards
  • Internet / statistics & numerical data*
  • Outpatients
  • Pharmacy Service, Hospital / methods
  • Pharmacy Service, Hospital / statistics & numerical data*
  • Quality Control
  • Software
  • Spain