January 17, 2025
An original article by Assistant Professor Jun Miyata, et al. (Department of Island and Community Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences), was published in January 9, 2025 (online ahead of print).
This research was supported by the Project on Promoting Healthcare Business Creation in Fiscal Year 2023 from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Government of Japan.
This demonstration is a joint project with Sora-iina Corporation (Goto, Nagasaki, Japan) and supported with Hisaka Clinic, Tamanoura Clinic, Fukue Pharmacy, and Goto City Municipal Office.
Background
Under a government policy to separate prescribing and dispensing practices, pharmacists can review prescriptions, provide medical counseling, and inquire about prescribers (physicians and dentists). Nevertheless, physicians and dentists dispense medications in many rural areas without pharmacists. In such local medical facilities, patients are forced to choose from limited treatment options because these facilities are limited in medicines, especially in sparsely populated areas, in addition to the disadvantages regarding a patients’ safety, therapy effectiveness, and conflict of interest management. Technology is required to deliver medications safely and promptly so that pharmacists, even those at a distance can dispense them in a timely manner.
Therefore, we launched a project to develop a medical service combining online medication counseling and autonomous fixed-wing drone delivery of prescribed medications.
We conducted a demonstration on remote islands in Japan to examine the feasibility and limitations of its practical applications.
Methods
We demonstrated a combination of online medication counseling and drone delivery of medications dispensed by pharmacists in two rural clinics (Hisaka Clinic and Tamanoura Clinic) located far from pharmacies on remote islands in Goto City, Japan.
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After dispensing and online medication counseling, the medications were transported by autonomous fixed-wing drones, dropped, and picked up by the staff. According to the relevant law, our drones can only fly over the sea and drop medications on the shore. After the demonstration, we administered a questionnaire.
Results
A total of 62 patients participated in this demonstration and it was successful except for two patients due to strong winds. It took more than one hour for most patients to receive their medications, and there was a cost associated with individual home delivery because the delivery spot was restricted to the shore. More than 80% of the patients were satisfied with online medication counseling, but a few expressed a desire to receive their medication at the clinic.
The clinic staff expressed that our project would reduce the workload regarding medications while worrying that patients would not be receptive to this delivery system. The pharmacy staff did not comment that they felt burdened by this delivery system, including the online medication counseling.
Conclusions
Prescribed medication delivery using drones was technically feasible. We found limitations in the time it took for patients to receive their medications and the cost of individual home delivery because the delivery spot was restricted to the shore. It is necessary to consider how to check and monitor the delivery spot and receipt of medications and how to cover the cost of drone delivery. This project will contribute to separating dispensing and prescribing functions, promoting pharmacist participation in rural areas, and expanding patient treatment options.
Reference
URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jgf2.768
DOI: 10.1002/jgf2.768