Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP
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Since the beginning of the 2020 Sars-CoV-2 Italian outbreak, healthcare workers have been among the most exposed categories. There is little information about community pharmacists' on occupational exposure, symptoms development, and testing practices in the community pharmacist cohort. ⋯ Community pharmacists have probably been one of the first categories to experience increased contact risk to SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 prevalence among pharmacists could have been underestimated. In addition, the rates of protection measures adoption might have helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among co-workers and the community.
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Community pharmacies provide an important healthcare service, which is broadly established, and constitutes the preferred and initial contact for members of the community. The significant value of community pharmacies was further highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. ⋯ Government and policymakers strive to mitigate the shortage of PPE and medication. More attention should be given to infection control measures around interactions between staff and customers to ensure community pharmacists are fit and able to provide continuity in their important role. Educating customers using regularly-updated posters, banners or signs will contribute to decreasing contact with patients, and reducing the number and duration of visits to the pharmacy. Pandemic preparedness of community pharmacists must also extend to reporting procedures. By avoiding under-reporting or over-reporting, community pharmacists will contribute to accurate monitoring of the national spread of infection.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2021
ReviewMedication management and adherence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives and experiences from low-and middle-income countries.
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is placing a huge strain on health systems worldwide. Suggested solutions like social distancing and lockdowns in some areas to help contain the spread of the virus may affect special patient populations like those with chronic illnesses who are unable to access healthcare facilities for their routine care and medicines management. ⋯ This paper highlights the pharmaceutical care practices of community pharmacists for patients with chronic diseases during this pandemic. This would provide support for the call by the WHO to maintain essential services during the pandemic, in order to prevent non-COVID disease burden on healthcare systems particularly in low-and middle-income countries.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2021
Hospital pharmacists' pharmaceutical care for hospitalized patients with COVID-19: Recommendations and guidance from clinical experience.
To discuss hospital pharmacists' role in providing pharmaceutical care for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 to promote patient care and management during the pandemic. ⋯ The need of pharmaceutical care services in COVID-19 hospitalized patients during this pandemic was quite distinguished from the past. Hospital pharmacists shall join the collaborative multidisciplinary team to improve COVID-19 patients' outcome and reduce mortality, and to facilitate the pandemic control.
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jan 2021
When fear and misinformation go viral: Pharmacists' role in deterring medication misinformation during the 'infodemic' surrounding COVID-19.
The world has faced an unprecedented challenge when coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged as a pandemic. Millions of people have contracted the virus and a significant number of them lost their lives, resulting in a tremendous social and economic shock across the globe. Amid the growing burden of the pandemic, there are parallel emergencies that need to be simultaneously tackled: the proliferation of fake medicines, fake news and medication misinformation surrounding COVID-19. ⋯ Primarily, they can be a relevant source of accurate and reliable information to the public or other fellow health professionals thereby reducing the spread of COVID-19 medication misinformation. This can be achieved by providing accurate and reliable information based on recommendations given by relevant health authorities and professional associations to make sure the community understand the importance of the message and thus minimise the detrimental consequences of the pandemic. This commentary aims to summarise the existing literature in relation to the promising treatments currently under trial, the perils of falsified medications and medicine-related information and the role of pharmacists in taking a leading role in combating these parallel global emergencies.