Objective. To determine the impact of emergency preparedness simulations in mass triage and mass dispensing on student pharmacist performance and perceived competency when assuming pharmacist roles in disaster situations. Design. Second-year student pharmacists (144) completed two 3-hour simulations focusing on mass triage and mass dispensing. The mass triage simulation consisted of virtual and live victims to be triaged and assigned a transport order. In the mass dispensing simulation, students assumed patient and pharmacist roles in a point-of-dispensing exercise for influenza. Assessment. For the mass triage simulation, students were challenged most by determining which patients could wait for emergency care but did well assessing those who required immediate or minimal care (83% and 64% correct, respectively). During the mass dispensing simulation, students performed screening and dispensing functions with accuracy rates of 88% and 90%, respectively. Conclusion. Student pharmacists performed well in screening and dispensing functions, but struggled with mass casualty triage during emergency preparedness simulations.

Data suggest that pharmacists may be prepared to respond to hurricanes and biological and chemical disasters in pharmaceutical supply and patient management roles. Future research should highlight efforts to prepare health systems for the effects of nuclear, radiological, and chemical disasters.

COVID-19 offered an unexpected turn of events for businesses worldwide. Being a small business and independent pharmacy, closing our doors to the public was a frightening experience. With the fear of the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders, our staff knew we needed to take matters into our own hands. As a small-town pharmacy, we pride ourselves on going above and beyond for all our customers. Our motto at Patterson Family Pharmacy is "where you are known" and we can guarantee anyone who walks in our doors will be treated like family from the start! For the past two months we have been increasing our reminder calls for refills due, establishing a steady flowing drive-thru, and offering multiple deliveries a day to patients in surrounding areas. With the shortage of masks in our town we found a local seamstress willing to provide reusable masks to our staff and patients. In addition, our staff has been distributing goodie bags with multivitamins and alcohol pads to all patients as a token of appreciation for supporting our business during these troubling times. We understand the concerns associated with coronavirus and hope to ease the stress one patient at a time!