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Pandemic preparedness of community pharmacies for COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: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. OBJECTIVE:The assessment of community pharmacies preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS:A cross-sectional interview survey of 1018 community pharmacies working in four regions of Egypt (South, East, Centre, and North). Data collection was conducted from 8-19 April 2020. RESULTS:Availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medication was better than alcohol (70% conc.). Home delivery services were available in 49.1% of pharmacies. Infection control measures covering interactions between staff were in place in up to 99.5% of pharmacies. Conversely, there was less frequent availability of contactless payment (29.1%), hand sanitizers (62.1%) or masks (86.5%) for customer use, or a separate area for patients with suspected COVID-19 (64%). Verbal customer education (90.4%) was used preferably to written (81.3%). Despite high clinical knowledge and awareness (97.6%-99.2%), only 8.8% of pharmacists had reported suspected COVID-19 cases, however this varied significantly with pharmacist demographics (geographic region P < 0.001; pandemic training p < 0.001; position p = 0.019; age p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: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.

SUBMITTER: Bahlol M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7211678 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pandemic preparedness of community pharmacies for COVID-19.

Bahlol Mohamed M Dewey Rebecca Susan RS

Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP 20200511 1

<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Objective</h4>The assessment of community pharmacies preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional interview survey of 1018 community pharmacies working in four regions of ...[more]

PMID: 32417070

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Project description:BackgroundGlobally, antibiotics misuse by the public has been reported in the era of COVID-19, despite the discouraging instructions of the World Health Organization, especially for mild cases.ObjectiveIs to describe this antibiotic misuse and its contributing factors. Also, to measure the pharmacists' application of infection preventive practices during the pandemic.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected Egyptian community pharmacists (Center, East, Delta, and Upper Egypt) using a questionnaire and direct interviews from 1 to 30 August 2020. The questionnaire consisted of two parts, the first covered pharmacist's demographic data and their application of basic infection preventive practices (eg, wearing face masks, regular hand sanitization, etc), and the other part was related to antibiotic dispensing patterns. Data were descriptively analyzed and the impact of participant experience on the responses was evaluated using the χ2 test.ResultsFrom 480 randomly selected Egyptian community pharmacists, 413 (87%) consented to participate in the study. 86.7% of the participants were keen to wear face masks (n = 358) and 86.2% kept regular hand sanitization (n = 356); whereas, 46.9% (n = 194) maintained adequate antibiotic stock supply during the pandemic. Nearly 67% (n = 275) of the pharmacists reported that patients were more likely to be given antibiotics for showing any sign or symptom of COVID-19 infection, and 82% (n = 74 278) of the dispensed antibiotics were given upon physician recommendation. Azithromycin, Ceftriaxone, and Linezolid were the major antibiotics dispensed to COVID-19 presumptive patients Azithromycin was given to ~40% of presumptive patients showing only mild or moderate symptoms for 5-10 days. Additionally, antibiotic combinations were given to 74% (n = 62 479) of home-isolated patients for a maximum of 2 weeks.ConclusionsPharmacists applied suitable sanitation and infection control protocols. Meanwhile, antibiotics were dispensed heavily during this pandemic without proper clinical indication and for long durations supporting the idea of antibiotic misuse.

Dataset Information

Pandemic preparedness of community pharmacies for COVID-19.

Publications

Pandemic preparedness of community pharmacies for COVID-19.

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