Development of a Drug Safety Surveillance Model in Community at Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Abstract

The objectives of this developmental research were to develop a web application for drug safety surveillance in community and to study its effectiveness through satisfaction amongst staff. The study comprised four phases: phase 1, studying existing data, patterns, and relevant networks utilizing tools for monitoring drug safety in community; phase 2, drafting tools; phase 3, developing web application, followed by usability testing with 10 focus group participants  to identify usability problems, and phase 4, implementing the web application throughout the province and assessing the outcomes through satisfaction of consumer protection officers. The study was conducted between February 1 and May 31, 2024. The results revealed that the community drug safety surveillance model in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, utilizing the web application "RanCham@Nakhon." enabled surveillance of drug sales in grocery stores. The model could also display comprehensive data at district and sub-district levels to address issues, establish corrective measures, and monitor the implementation indicators of Rational Drug Use in Community. Overall satisfaction by use of a web application among 70 health consumer protection officers from different districts and sub-districts was high. The officers also indicated their intention to utilize the web application for surveillance of both pharmaceutical and other health products. The results of this study suggest that further study regarding healthy products inside grocery stores is needed. Finally, further development of capabilities among grocery store owners, public health volunteers, and operating officers are important to establish a model of grocery stores for safety and healthy product distribution in community.