Pharmacy Education for Safe Online Pharmacy Services in India: Digital Competence, Public Health Communication, and Regulation
Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Online pharmacy services are reshaping medicine access and pharmaceutical care in India while creating demands related to communication, regulation, privacy, medicine quality, and patient safety. This chapter presents a structured narrative review of 31 scholarly, regulatory, and institutional sources available up to July 2026. It examines e-pharmacy and telepharmacy, pharmacists' changing roles, consumer access and trust, and gaps in pharmacy education. Pharmacy education is framed as a public health communication infrastructure that should prepare pharmacists to translate complex information, support health literacy, provide digital counselling, counter misinformation, protect personal data, and apply professional standards. Based on the reviewed evidence, the chapter proposes competency-based curriculum priorities, learning activities, assessment, supervised practice, faculty development, and policy actions. Sustainability and green pharmacy are treated as supporting competencies linked to packaging, transport, medicine returns, waste management, and equitable service delivery.
Source: IGI Global eBooks
Language: Ndonga
Subfield: Pharmacy
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204251740