USABILITY INTERNET-PHARMACIES SITES

Author(s):  
Chudnov A.A. ◽  
Umarov S.Z.

The modern development of information technology provides the opportunity to use them in many areas of life, which also include medicine and pharmacy. The introduction of technologies such as an electronic prescription system, drug labeling, creates the prereq-uisites for the remote provision of services. Recently, legislative changes have legalized the distance trad-ing of OTC drugs. In this regard, soon the supply chain of the drug to the end user may include a mini-mum number of professionals. Thus, in these condi-tions, the role of information that users can receive via the Internet is significantly increasing. Such a term as the "usability" of the site, or its ease of use, appeared back in 1998 and every year is of increasing importance. In relation to online pharmacies, the usa-bility assessment is especially relevant in terms of both general functionality, which is typical for all services selling products via the Internet, and features specific to Internet pharmacies only. On May 8, 2020, an anal-ysis of the "usability" of 20 sites of pharmacy organi-zations was conducted. Some advantages were high-lighted (putting information on the quality of goods (declarations, certificates), warnings, contraindica-tions and storage conditions in a separate block), as well as disadvantages (some clutter of the site with elements, the presence of blank pages and a fuzzy warning about prescription drugs).

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-335
Author(s):  
Michael A. Veronin

Today, it is common for patients to order prescription drugs via their home computer through an Internet pharmacy. Because of this, pharmacists may be faced with having to evaluate a patient's drug regimen that may include foreign-made imported drugs obtained through the Internet. This article addresses major issues involving drug importation via this mechanism. Topics discussed include types of Internet pharmacies, patient access to prescription drugs, self-medication, legal issues, and potential health risks. The current level of activity of Internet drug sales has reached record volume and does not appear to be subsiding; pharmacists should be aware of these emerging influences on their practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (9) ◽  
pp. 2169-2174
Author(s):  
Nataliya O. Gutorova ◽  
Vitalii M. Pashkov ◽  
Oleksii S. Soloviov

The aim: This article aims to raise awareness and stimulate serious discussion about the dangers of illegal Internet pharmacies for patient safety and public health, the necessity to improve legal instruments, and unite the efforts of governments, professional organizations, and civil society for combating this activity. Materials and methods: This study is based on the Medicrime Convention, empirical and analytical data of the WHO, Interpol, Europol, NABF, Directive 2011/62/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 8, 2011, the regulatory acts and juridical practice of Ukraine, experts interview of pharmacy practicians, analysis of websites. Totally 18 laws and papers, 34 court judgments, 50 websites were analyzed, six experts were interviewed. Dialectical, comparative, analytic, synthetic, system analyses and sociological research methods were used. Results: Illegal Internet pharmacies are widespread in Europe, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This black market poses a severe threat to patient safety and public health as falsifying, substandard, and smuggled medicines are sold through these channels. Without any exception, all illegal pharmacies sell prescription drugs without any prescriptions. Regulatory and protective legal instruments at the national and international levels are insufficient to counter the Internet trade in medicines. Conclusions: The widespread proliferation of illegal Internet pharmacies in Europe requires European states to work together to protect patient safety and public health. A legal mechanism needs to be established to exchange information and combat illegal pharmaceutical activities on the Internet at the international level. At the national level, it is necessary to strengthen control over the wholesale of prescription medications to prevent them from entering the black market.


Author(s):  
Philip Rosson

The advent of Internet technology has affected the pharmaceutical industry in at least two ways. First, existing companies have implemented Internet solutions for efficiency and performance reasons. These solutions may convey benefits across the entire manufacturer—wholesaler—pharmacy supply chain (e.g., inventory tracking and management), or focus at one level (e.g., providing customer information from a pharmacy Web site). Second, new businesses have been established to capitalize on the opportunities made possible by Internet technology. The new businesses may be related to others, as in the case where storefront pharmacies have established online companies to expand their market scope. Two other new business types represent more radical change and are controversial. The first uses the Internet to deliver information about specific drugs through spam (unsolicited commercial or bulk e-mail). Relatively little is known about such pharmacies, although they account for a large and growing proportion of all spam (PRWeb, 2004). They often promote dubious products and cures, may not require a prescription, and actual delivery is not assured (Barrett, 2001). Some customers buy from such pharmacies in spite of these problems. Because there is a dearth of research on pharmacies using spam, and given that their ethics and standards are at best highly questionable, they are not considered here. A second type of pharmacy has gained prominence since 1999. The Internet pharmacies in question are start-ups that operate wholly online and have no connection to existing pharmacies. For the most part, these Internet pharmacies export prescription drugs from a lower cost country to one or more where higher costs prevail. In North America, many Internet pharmacies have sprung up in western Canada to supply drugs to U.S. consumers. International trade in prescription drugs is also seen elsewhere, again motivated by different price levels.1 The North America experience is discussed next. Canadian Internet pharmacies have achieved success since 1999, but face an uncertain future. Their emergence is traced below and the major points of controversy identified. The analysis reveals that the application of Internet technology in these pharmacies was quite straightforward. More problematic is the complex, political environment in which Internet pharmacies operate, and the fact that the strategy adopted challenges established legal and ethical standards. These issues are addressed in the final sections where the future of Internet pharmacies is examined.


Author(s):  
Vitalii Pashkov ◽  
Oleksii Soloviov ◽  
Andrii Harkusha

Digitalisation of pharmaceutical activities is creating a new type of pharmaceutical market, a more flexible and less costly; yet it has become more dangerous for patients and the economic stability. The reason is the imperfection of the legal regulation and online sales of pharmaceutical products, in particular. It is necessary to clarify that digitalisation of pharmaceutical activities is not only about online sales of pharmaceutical products. It is also digital marketing, which includes promoting pharmaceutical products via the Internet, including advertising such products. Research shows that prescription drugs are sold to such patients by both illegal online pharmacies and legal ones. Most counterfeit medicines are sold through illegal online pharmacies. The purpose of the article is to draw attention to the need for legal support for the activities of Internet pharmacies using more efficient technologies, including limiting their activities. Carrying out the research, several scientific methods were used. The methods of system-structural analysis, induction and deduction were used at all stages of the research in the study of the legal regulation of the sale of medicines in various countries through Internet pharmacies, the practice of its use, the state of illegal behavior in this area, analytical materials and scientific sources. The formal-logical method was used to study regulatory acts and international documents, the comparative-legal method was used to perform comparative analysis of the legal regulation of Internet pharmacies’ activity, as well as the practice of its application in the countries of the European Union, the USA, Turkey, Ukraine, and some Arab states. It should be noted that in the EU member countries, due to single European economic and customs area and general regulation, the problems of Internet pharmacies are of the same nature. The content analysis method was implemented for studying journalistic materials and researching websites that offer distance selling, online ordering, and delivery of pharmaceutical products to a consumer in various ways. Keywords: online pharmacies, digital marketing, digitalisation of pharmacy.


Author(s):  
Naomi Wanja Ireri ◽  
Gladys Kimutai

Commercial banks in Kenya have embraced alternative banking channels which represent a shift in delivery of banking and financial services since the alternative banking have become synonymous with commercial banks in Kenya. While banks have succeeded in leveraging available technology and provide alternative avenues to customers for banking services, the challenge it faces today is optimizing the usage of these channels so as to improve on their performance. The general objective of this study was to investigate the effects of financial innovations on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the influence of internet banking, mobile banking, agency banking and ATM banking on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study was guided by agency theory, balanced score card and diffusion of innovation theory. This study employed a descriptive research design. The study targeted44 commercial banks in Kenya as at 2017. The 16 banks which embrace all the four financial innovations from 2013 to 2017were selected using purposive sampling method. The sample size was 80 respondents who comprised of 5 senior management employees in each of the selected banks.This study used questionnaire to collect primary data from the respondents. Content analysis technique was used to analyze qualitative data collected from open ended questions in and reported in narrative form. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the quantitative data. Multiple regression analysis was used to show the relationship between independent variables against dependent variable. The study revealed that internet banking, mobile banking, agency banking and ATM banking had a positive and significant effect on the performance of commercial banks. Thisstudy concludes that the banking industry has benefited tremendously from the development of the Internet. The Internet fundamentally changed the way in which banking networks are designed to meet the client demands and expectations. Mobile banking provides a good opportunity to commercial banks in Kenya to reach many mobile phone subscribers in Kenya who had remained unbanked and unreached due to limited access to bank branch networks in the country. The access to the large masses through mobile banking of the population gives banks the opportunity to grow by reaching the unbanked population. Agency banking has led to accessibility of financial service to many customer in remote areas and hence an increase in effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery. Customers are satisfied with the automated teller machine services because of ease of use, transaction cost and service security but not satisfy with automated teller machine dispense of cash. The study recommends that the public and businesses must be encouraged to use Internet banking in their daily activities, including deposits, payments and money transfers. Commercial banks in Kenya should ensure convenience and security of mobile banking through written guidelines on convenience and security of mobile banking. Commercial banks in Kenya should increase the number of agents in estates and in the rural areas. This can be done by reducing the requirements of becoming a bank agent. The banks should employ customized software that records relevant information on automated teller machine cards so that banks can establish whether unauthorized transaction has taken place or not.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Boeing

As the rental housing market moves online, the internet offers divergent possible futures: either the promise of more-equal access to information for previously marginalized homeseekers, or a reproduction of longstanding information inequalities. Biases in online listings’ representativeness could impact different communities’ access to housing search information, reinforcing traditional information segregation patterns through a digital divide. They could also circumscribe housing practitioners’ and researchers’ ability to draw broad market insights from listings to understand rental supply and affordability. This study examines millions of Craigslist rental listings across the USA and finds that they spatially concentrate and overrepresent whiter, wealthier, and better-educated communities. Other significant demographic differences exist in age, language, college enrollment, rent, poverty rate, and household size. Most cities’ online housing markets are digitally segregated by race and class, and we discuss various implications for residential mobility, community legibility, gentrification, housing voucher utilization, and automated monitoring and analytics in the smart cities paradigm. While Craigslist contains valuable crowdsourced data to better understand affordability and available rental supply in real time, it does not evenly represent all market segments. The internet promises information democratization, and online listings can reduce housing search costs and increase choice sets. However, technology access/preferences and information channel segregation can concentrate such information-broadcasting benefits in already-advantaged communities, reproducing traditional inequalities and reinforcing residential sorting and segregation dynamics. Technology platforms like Craigslist construct new institutions with the power to shape spatial economies, human interactions, and planners’ ability to monitor and respond to urban challenges.


Author(s):  
Liudmyla Kurylo ◽  
◽  
Yaroslav Kozchenko ◽  

The author conducted a study of the role and actual functions of Internet marketing nowadays, analyzed the latest publications and studies of domestic and foreign scientists relating to Internet marketing. The definitions of Internet marketing by various scientists were considered. It was determined by the problematic that exists in the field of internet marketing at the moment. A review of modern tools we identified the main tools of Internet marketing, by which the communication occurs on the Internet: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), search (paid) advertising, Media advertising, SMM (Social Media Marketing) social media marketing, content marketing, E-mail marketing; Hootsuit's company research analysis determined the number of Internet users and purchasing power in the online environment, which averaged 500 USD per year. The number of Internet users in the online environment averaged 500 USD per year. And also to prioritise specific types of products. We have also identified that search engines are the main source of learning new information for consumers. Having analysed the dynamics of internet penetration in Ukraine, it appears that the number of internet users increased by 8% in 2019, with 22.96 million Ukrainians using the internet at the end of 2019. The article examines the possibilities of Internet marketing tools that become available when using such a tool as web analytics, including: personalised offers to customers, building relationships with customers, after a purchase is made and increasing their retention rate. A study of advertising costs on the social network Facebook, during the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2019 and during the presidential race in the USA in 2020 was conducted. And also defined the role played by social networks in building relationships with the target audience. During the research, recommendations for the use of the main tools of Internet marketing were made and it was determined which business areas are not suitable for each of the tools. Based on the research and statistical data was predicted directions of development of Internet marketing.


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