e-Pharm Assist: The Future Approach for Dispensing Medicines in Smart Cities

Technological advancements are changing the society at a rapid pace demonstrating positive impacts in the lives lived today. It is enabling its citizens to be more responsive to change as and when it happens providing a wealth of timely data. The challenge for society in this era of digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning is to use its opportunities not only to improve the quality of life but also its purpose. The UAE aims to be a successful smart city by harnessing digital innovation in all its endeavors. The UAE's National Agenda 2021 where four among six of the indicators embrace World Class Healthcare, Safe Public and Fair Judiciary, Cohesive Society and Preserved Identity, Sustainable Environment and Infrastructure. In line with this the research study is carried with an objective to study and gain insights to the approach prevalent in the region by medical practitioners in prescribing and by pharmacies in dispensing medication. Few of the challenges faced by patients and pharmacists when reading doctor's illegible prescriptions and the functioning of the pharmacies for dispensing medication to patients post doctors consultation is a cumbersome time taking practice. The study adapts a survey-based approach bagged by case-based analysis to strengthen its findings. The survey involved patients strictly over the age of twenty and major community pharmacies in the UAE. The prime aspects of the study focus on context control, awareness, security and trust processing perspectives under quality health care. On analysis of the data collated surfaced significant associations noticeable under context control wherein the current increase in wait time at pharmacies by patients, errors made in reading handwritten prescriptions and trusting the process of an online pharmacy. The results of this study indicate that retail pharmacists and patients are willing to switch to an online system of prescribing and buying medical necessities. The analysis of the study suggests a proposed model that will allow doctors to prescribe medication online to patients post consultation referred to as e-prescription that is integrated with an online pharmacy referred to as e-pharmacy that enables dispensing of medication after insurance approvals by the nearest pharmacy at the doorstep of the patient using a location based service in an effort to reduce patient waiting time at pharmacy and also evades prescription reading errors a practice of the past. Thus, propelling the UAE's effort in achieving the national agenda 2021.