Patient-Pharmacist Interactions in Chronic Care: A Qualitative Study and Implications for Design

Chronic patients are often asked to perform measurements as part of their self-care. Some patients make measurements at home, but others resort to their local pharmacy for information and support. However, there is a shallow understanding of the role of pharmacists and pharmacies in chronic care management, which may hinder the development of tools to support patient care. To better understand the work carried out at community pharmacies for chronic care, and inform the design of these systems, we conducted an ethnographic informed study. We observed four community pharmacies and interviewed eleven pharmacists. Results show that pharmacists are essential in providing patients with information regarding their medication and support in health measurements. However, their work is restricted by a general lack of information about the patient and limited collaboration with other clinicians. Drawing on the insights from this work, we derived three implications for the design, including developing software for pharmacies that keeps track of patient measurements and shares them with doctors, and creating a pharmacist-doctor communication channel for enabling medication adjustments.