Evaluating the effectiveness of digital communication within the National Medication Safety Network for England

The medication safety officer (MSO) role was created following a patient safety alert, with an action for MSOs to be active participants in a national network in England, which included regular online webinar meetings and an online forum. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of digital platforms in facilitating interaction and communication by the MSO network. The objectives were to establish the proportion of MSOs who interact through monthly webinars and the online forum. A secondary objective was to identify barriers and facilitators for engaging digitally within the MSO network.

An online survey was used alongside semistructured interviews. The online survey was disseminated to all 400 MSOs registered with the UK Department of Health Central Alerting System from December 2018 to February 2019. Interviewees were identified purposively through snowball sampling and voluntarily through the survey.

84 MSOs responded to the survey (21% response rate) and 10 participated in the semistructured interviews. The majority of the respondents were pharmacists (79/84, 94%) from NHS large healthcare providers (44/84, 52%). MSO respondents (61/84, 73%) joined the monthly webinar and 47/84 (56%) believed the webinar was useful for networking. Ten (12%) did not attend the webinars due to technical difficulties or lack of time. The online forum was used less frequently, with a third (27/84, 32%) that had never used it.

Digital communications through webinars and online forums were perceived by respondents as a way to facilitate networking but require a robust information technology infrastructure that can be accessed without difficulty. User-friendly platforms can help the MSO network achieve critical mass and greater interaction, allowing timely access to information.