COVID-19 and community pharmacy services in Pakistan: challenges, barriers and solution for progress

Atif, Muhammad; Malik, Iram

doi:10.1186/s40545-020-00240-4

Cited by 29 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This was however reassuring as most respondents were able to identify some level of involvement of pharmacy as part of a COVID-19 response. These ndings are in line with the literature available on the role of pharmacy in managing health crises, which highlight the key bene ts of partnerships between the pharmacy sector and government bodies in ensuring an optimal pandemic response [20][21][22][23][24].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

COVID-19: Needs assessment of the pharmacy profession and contributions so far across the Commonwealth

Ashiru‐Oredope¹,

Chan²,

Olaoye³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BackgroundThe declaration of COVID-19 a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on the 11March 2020 marked the beginning of a global health crisis of an unprecedented natureand scale. The approach taken by countries across the world varied widely, however,the delivery of frontline healthcare was consistently recognised as being central to thepandemic response. This study aimed to identify and explore the issues currentlyfacing pharmacy teams across Commonwealth countries during the COVID-19pandemic. The study also evaluates pharmacy professionals’ understanding of keyknowledge areas from the COVID-19 webinar hosted by the CommonwealthPharmacists’ Association ( CPA) on 5 th June 2020.MethodA quantitative survey-based approach was adopted, using a 32-item questionnairedeveloped from the literature on pharmacy and pandemic response. The survey washosted on Survey Monkey and pilot tested. The final survey was disseminated by CPAmember organisations. A 6-item online questionnaire was sent via email to allattendees of CPA's COVID-19 webinar. Descriptive statistics on frequency distributionsand percentages were used to analyse the responses. Data were analysed usingMicrosoft® Excel (2010).ResultsThere were 545 responses from pharmacy professionals across 31/54 commonwealthcountries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. Majority of therespondents reported being at least somewhat worried (90%) and more than 65% werevery worried or extremely about the impact of COVID-19 on them personally andprofessionally. Nearly two-thirds of respondents stated finding it somewhat difficult orvery difficult to work effectively during the pandemic. Challenges mostly faced bypharmacy professionals working remotely included; general anxiety about the impact ofCOVID-19 on their lives (12%), and difficulties in communicating with their co-workers(12%). Most pharmacy professionals had not previously been actively involved in aglobal health emergency (82%) nor obtained training on global/public healthemergency preparedness (62%). Between 45% to 97% of the COVID-19 webinarattendees provided the correct answers to post-webinar questions, suggesting someimprovement in knowledge.ConclusionOur study confirms pharmacy professional’s concerns about practice during apandemic and provides preliminary data on the challenges and learning needs of theprofession. The CPA has since acted on these findings, providing on-goingopportunities to develop and refine resources for the profession as the pandemicevolves. Pharmacy professionals have also demonstrated improved knowledge on themanagement of COVID-19 and resources available for professionals.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

COVID-19: Needs assessment of the pharmacy profession and contributions so far across the Commonwealth

Ashiru‐Oredope¹,

Chan²,

Olaoye³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Pharmacist's adherence to the control measures is very important to control and decrease the spread of COVID-19, which is greatly affected by knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) concerning COVID-19 [11,12]. There are a few published reports that were focused on assessing COVID-19 related knowledge of health care professionals in Pakistan [13][14][15][16]. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous report of a nationwide study that has assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices of pharmacists in Pakistan.…”

Section: A1111111111 A1111111111 A1111111111 A1111111111 A1111111111mentioning

confidence: 99%

A national study to assess pharmacists’ preparedness against COVID-19 during its rapid rise period in Pakistan

et al. 2020

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To evaluate the pharmacist’s preparedness against the COVID-19 during its rapid rise period in Pakistan, an online cross-sectional study was carried out from March 30 to May 22, 2020 among the pharmacists using a pre-validated self-administered questionnaire. A total of 1149 participants completed the survey, amongst which 430(37.9%) were working as retail pharmacists, 216 (18.8%) as community pharmacists, and 213(18.5%) as hospital pharmacists. The mean COVID-19 knowledge score of the participants was 6.77±0.5, which indicated that 84% of them had good knowledge about COVID-19. The multiple linear regression model revealed that attitude was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.001), marital status (p<0.0001) and resident (p = 0.013). The mean practice score was 2.85±0.4, showing that 94% of the participants were following adequate preventive practices against this infection. The results from this study suggest that Pharmacists demonstrated good knowledge, positive attitudes, and acceptable practices regarding COVID-19.

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“…Community pharmacists provide COVID-19 screening and medication dispensing to maintain continuity of care, disseminate critical information regarding COVID-19, collaborate closely with other HCWs and government organizations, engage in home medication delivery, and remain the most accessible healthcare member that patients can interact with [ 25 ]. Hospital pharmacists directly support physicians, nurses, and other staff in managing life-saving medications for COVID-19 patients, participating in patient rounds, and engaging in infectious disease control [ 20 , 25 – 27 ]. Unfortunately, pharmacists are often overlooked and are underrepresented regarding advocacy [ 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health issues impacting pharmacists during COVID-19

Elbeddini

Wen

Tayefehchamani

et al. 2020

J of Pharm Policy and Pract

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impact on the mental health of healthcare workers is extremely detrimental. It is imperative that the psychological health of all healthcare workers be protected. However, an often overlooked member of the healthcare frontline is the pharmacist. Pharmacists provide many types of essential services during the pandemic, which often cannot be done from a remote location. Being frontline healthcare workers, pharmacists have experienced an increase in the number of patients seen, the amount of screening and triage being done, the amount of COVID-19 information being delivered, the number of medication shortages, and the amount of workplace harassment taking place. These activities increase the amount of stress, burden, and frustration felt by pharmacists have a negative impact on their mental health and well-being. This article seeks to address the specific implications of COVID-19 on the mental health of pharmacists.

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COVID-19 and community pharmacy services in Pakistan: challenges, barriers and solution for progress

Cited by 29 publications

References 19 publications

COVID-19: Needs assessment of the pharmacy profession and contributions so far across the Commonwealth

COVID-19: Needs assessment of the pharmacy profession and contributions so far across the Commonwealth

A national study to assess pharmacists’ preparedness against COVID-19 during its rapid rise period in Pakistan

Mental health issues impacting pharmacists during COVID-19

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