Are Malaysian ready to adopt telepharmacy services during the new norm? A cross-sectional survey

While lowering the danger of transmission, remote healthcare services have drawn increasing attention during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic by bridging the gap between healthcare professionals and the general population. The purpose of this study was to look at Malaysian residents' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) about telepharmacy services during the COVID-19 epidemic. During the third wave of COVID-19, a descriptive cross-sectional research was carried out among Malaysia's general population.Using several social networking platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, and course networking, therespondents gathered information using the convenience sampling approach.To evaluate their current knowledge, attitude, and practices, they completed a self-administered questionnaire. To report demographic information, descriptive statistics were employed. The variable's differentiation, association, and correlations were reported using inferential statistics. A total of 384 respondents participated in this survey. Nearly half of the participants had poor knowledge (49.0%), negative attitudes (44.5%), and poor practices (46.4 %) of telepharmacyservices during the pandemic. There was a significant association between the level of knowledge and practice of telepharmacy (p <0.001). The majority of the participants (67.45%) with poor knowledge of telepharmacy were less likely to use telepharmacy services. Most of the participants learned about it through different social media platforms. Although 55.7% of the respondents found that telepharmacy services are feasible and convenient but only 18.5% of the participants have received any health services via telepharmacy during a pandemic. In brief, this study was able to provide an understanding of the knowledge, attitude, and practice among individuals in Malaysia towards telepharmacy services during covid-19 epidemic. The application of the telepharmacy opens a different as well as new stance of healthcare facilities for the patients and it can restrict the problem of less attainability of pharmacists.