Technology-enabled community pharmacies: qualitative evaluation of a framework for assessing technology solutions

Optimal provision of pharmacists' professional services requires integrated digital health platforms and ideally an evaluation framework to guide implementation and adoption. The Technology Evaluation Key (TEK) framework, which combines three published models describing technology usage behaviour, had not been applied to identify technological needs for community pharmacists to enable practice. This research aimed to describe pharmacists' needs relating to information communication technology (ICT) platforms and apply the findings to refine the TEK framework.

This study was conducted in Australia between June and July 2022 (approval number HRE2022-0249). A systematic scoping review, face and content validation, and field testing guided the development of the interview tool. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with participants until data saturation, where no new themes emerged. Following Braun and Clarke's six-step reflexive thematic analysis, a deductive-to-inductive approach was utilised to identify themes, which were applied to the TEK framework to refine domains. Coding was conducted by [A.O.] and confirmed by consensus with the other authors.

Twenty-four pharmacists were interviewed. Thematic analysis identified technological needs that included greater system integration, interoperability, and increased user access to nationally commissioned ICT systems. The TEK framework was refined from nine to eight domains accordingly (healthcare system, organisation, practitioner, ICT, user experience, logistics and operations, system integrity, and clinical impact).

This study highlighted areas for improvement in implementing ICT platforms to meet the needs of community pharmacists as users of these technologies. The refined TEK framework can guide ICT development, implementation, and evaluation.