Effects of E-learning on Pharmacists’ Recognition and Practice in Medication Education for Patients with Hearing Loss

Pharmacists are required to provide and collect medication information based on patients’ health literacy and communication abilities to provide effective pharmaceutical care. Due to a lack of understanding of hearing loss and awareness of the inconvenience that patients with hearing loss face, appropriate actions for effective communication in medication education are not fully implemented. An e-learning system consisting of two courses, a learning course and an evaluation course, has been developed. The learning course explains hearing loss and appropriate actions in medication education and investigates pharmacists’ recognition of medication education, while the evaluation course assesses the implementation of necessary actions in medication education and changes in pharmacists’ recognition of medication education with patients compared to before the e-learning. From February to September 2022, 41 pharmacists completed the learning course, with 22 advancing to the evaluation course. Prior to learning, they had difficulty in communicating with patients with hearing loss. However, after the learning course, their confidence in medication education improved with a better understanding of hearing loss and practice of appropriate actions. They also felt that pharmacists who were unfamiliar with the system should understand hearing loss and take actions tailored to patients’ hearing loss. Further examination may be needed of the effects of the e-learning on patients with hearing loss.