Internet Pharmacy: Trust or Mistrust

Recommendations for this project: Project Purpose. The purpose of the research for this project is to make the patient and the physician's office staff aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet pharmacy. There are many risks involved with the use of the Internet pharmacy including the possibility of purchasing counterfeit or tainted drugs. Awareness in regards to the ability to purchase drugs online without a prescription is important to the patient. The Internet pharmacy is in need of regulations to provide safety for the consumer. This purpose of this project will provide the information necessary to help the consumer trust or mistrust the Internet pharmacy. In addition, physician's office staff will have the opportunity to receive education through an informative power point presentation to help them advise the patient in regards to purchasing their medications online.;Research was done to assess the availability of prescriptions from Internet pharmacies as compared to the ease and availability of the traditional pharmacy. Many problems and risks were established based on findings from a literature review including an inaccuracy of the prescription and an ease of access for drug addicts to obtain their medications. The problems of the Internet pharmacy were researched with a resolution to an educational approach to the physician's office to inform the patient of risks and benefits of the Internet pharmacy. With the knowledge gleaned from the research of this paper, an informational pamphlet was designed to be distributed to the patient upon completion of an office visit. A power point presentation was designed to educate the physician's office staff concerning the risks of using the Internet pharmacy rather than the traditional pharmacy.