Computer use among pharmacy customers

Drug Store News,  Oct 10, 2005  

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The Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals' 2005 Pharmacy Satisfaction Digest--produced by Wilson Health Information, LLC--found that Mail/Online customers are the most likely to own a use computers, and Independent customers least commonly own or use computers. But even among Independent customers, 55 percent own or use a computer. Perhaps what's most interesting is how computer owners use their computers to improve their health. Pharmacy customers most commonly used their home computer to find information about diseases, followed by information about medications and to find health care providers/doctors. Specifically, 80.6 percent of Chain customers who own computers used them to get information about diseases. While only 14.6 percent of Chain customer computer-owners order prescription refills via the Internet, 55.4 percent of Mail/Online computer-owners refilled prescriptions on the Internet.

The study also found that at present nearly four out of five pharmacy customers use their pharmacist as a source of information on medications and health conditions. But the computer would seem to be a formidable competitor to the pharmacist as a source of information on medications and health conditions. Independent customers most commonly reference their pharmacist while Mail/Online customers are the least likely to use their pharmacist as a source of information.

How Computer Owners/Users
use Computers to Improve Health

Info about disease              77.5%
Info about medications          66.2%
Find health care providers      28.9%
Order Rx refills                24.6%
Check Rx records                11.8%
Check Rx prices                 10.9%
Email health providers           6.9%
Online chat/health newsgroups    6.9%
Manage health insurance plan     5.7%
Retrieve lab test results        2.1%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

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