Chat-based telepharmacy in Denmark: design and early results.

OBJECTIVES: Following the introduction of a nationwide online telepharmacy chat-service in Denmark in the spring of 2012, offering free counselling to all Danish citizens, we aimed to investigate the types of enquiries that are made to the telepharmacy.

METHODS: We extracted 500 consecutive chat transcripts and categorised them in four categories: drug-related, symptom, technical and other. These categories were further divided into 28 prespecified subcategories. After the categorisation of the 500 transcripts, 7 new subcategories were added and the material was reanalysed. For drug-related enquiries, the drug in question was registered according to the anatomical-therapeutic-chemical system developed by World Health Organization. Veterinary and empty (nonresponding) enquiries were excluded.

KEY FINDINGS: Four hundred seventy-six eligible enquiries were identified and categorised. The enquiries were found to be diverse: 170 enquiries (35.7%) were drug-related, 124 (26.1%) were technical in nature, 91 (19.1%) were related to symptoms and 91 (19.1%) of the enquiries were categorised as other. The most common drug class was 'drugs related to the genitourinary system and sex hormones'. Only 50 (10.5%) of the enquiries happened in connection with an actual purchase at the online pharmacy. Of all enquiries, 28.6% led to a referral to a medical doctor. Of the customers, 89.2% were satisfied with the online counselling.

CONCLUSION: The diverse enquiries require professional chat operators with broad experience. Some subjects are overrepresented when compared with regular pharmacy counselling and should receive special attention. Continued monitoring is considered essential.