E-prescription: How feasible is it for Bangladesh

Portable Health Clinic (PHC) is an e-health initiative, jointly developed by Kyushu University, Japan, and Grameen Communications, Bangladesh. This paper is based on the challenges and effectiveness of e-prescription in rural Bangladesh.

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
The electronic prescription system has emerged to reduce the ambiguity and misunderstanding associated with handwritten prescriptions. The opportunities and challenges of e-prescription system, its impact on reducing medication error, and improving patient’s safety have been widely studied. However, not enough studies were conducted to explore and quantify the factors that affect rural patients’ compliance with e-prescription, especially from the perspective of Asian developing countries where most of the world’s population resides.

OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study is to explore and assess the factors that affect rural patients’ primary compliance with e-prescription in Bangladesh.

METHODS:
Data were collected from 95 randomly selected rural patients who received e-prescription through a field survey with a structured questionnaire from Bheramara subdistrict, Bangladesh, during June and July 2016. Logistic regression analysis was performed to test the research hypotheses.

RESULTS:
The study found patients’ gender as the most significantly influential factor (regression coefficient [Coef.] = 2.02, odds ratio [OR] = 7.51, p < 0.05) followed by visiting frequency (Coef. = 0.99, OR = 2.70, p < 0.05); education (Coef. = 0.92, OR = 2.51, p < 0.05); and distance to healthcare facility (Coef. = 0.82, OR = 2.26, p < 0.01). However, patients’ age, monthly family expenditure, and use of cell phone were found insignificant. The model explains 59.40% deviance (R2 = 0.5940) in the response variable with its constructs. And the “Hosmer-Lemeshow” goodness-of-fit score (0.99) is also above the standard threshold (0.05), which indicates the data fit well with the model.

CONCLUSIONS:
The findings of this study are expected to be helpful for e-health service providers to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence their patients to comply with e-prescriptions.

Full paper at: Factors Affecting Rural Patients’ Primary Compliance with e-Prescription: A Developing Country Perspective