Improved equipment for self-testing using mobile IT devices and advanced telephone technology mean that patients can do more themselves without direct access to a clinician.

Improved equipment for self-testing using mobile IT devices and advanced telephone technology mean that patients can do more themselves without direct access to a clinician. Equally, limited capital reserves lead to a greater number of older people remaining in their own homes instead of seeking residential care. Pharmacists increasingly need to manage patients remotely to facilitate adherence to specific courses of therapy and reduce costly admissions to hospital. Teleconferencing is increasingly used to address health inequalities and deliver medicinal advice to patients in rural communities, as well as to connect with difficult-to-engage members of the public.

Proposed workforce impact

• Pharmacists adopt a wider role in advising and supporting patients and their carers on the use of technology.
• Demand for community-based stewardship increases.
• Complex need/demand relationships emerge.
• The settings in which pharmacists work change.
• SLTs adopt a wider role in advising and supporting patients and their carers on the use of technology.
• The settings in which SLTs work change.
• SLTs take on more of a role coordinating the adoption and usage of technology by patients.

Sources or references

• http://www.rqt.qc.ca/repDoc%5CSymposiums% 5C2007%5CLundi%2026%20novembre %20PM%5CHebert%20et%20al%202006% 20%C3%A9valuation.pdf
• http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijta/2008/753064/
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18632993  
• http://www.improvement.nhs.uk/stroke/Increasingaccesstotherapy/Technology.aspx

Additional research questions

• How will self-testing equipment be funded?
• How will quality be maintained?
• Which patient groups will it be most appropriate for?
• Is there a clear clinical benefit to the introduction of self-care?

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.