A Usability Study of Pharmacists’ Perceptions Toward an Online Course for Respiratory Infections and Antibiotic Use

Abstract Digital tools in healthcare have been rapidly emerging over the past decade, with these tools consisting of clinical decision support systems, diagnostic tools or educational materials, such as e-learning courses. eHealthResp comprises an online course, primarily aiming to support physicians and pharmacists on the management of upper respiratory tract infections. In order to assure the quality of the online course, not only in terms of scientific content, but also in terms of user-friendliness, it shall be evaluated by a group of pilot users prior to its implementation. This article focuses on the usability assessment of the eHealthResp online course by community pharmacists, in order to efficiently determine and maximize its educational impact and overall user-friendliness. A questionnaire, based on the System Usability Scale, was distributed among pharmacists, giving them the opportunity to fully explore the website. Overall, pharmacist’s evaluation/experience on the usability of the eHealthResp online course was rated excellent (mean score of 83,75 points), with individual scores ranging from 55 to 100 points on a 1-100 scale, together with positive overall assessments regarding ease of use, complexity, functionalities integration and consistency.