Preparedness of pharmacists to respond to the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: a comprehensive overview

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 in low-and middle-income countries is worrisome due to the social inequalities in these countries, their limited health budgets and the significant burden of other acute and chronic diseases. The leap in the number of cases in Brazil has imposed a huge strain on the healthcare system. We sought to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges encountered by pharmacy services in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency in Brazil and discuss the role of clinical pharmacists in this context. Pharmaceutical services play a key role in the emergency response to the pandemic. The pharmacy workforce has been actively working to manage drug shortages, redesign workflow, and review drug formularies/protocols to improve safety for patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs). COVID-19 patients may present high risk in the use of medications and clinical pharmacists can contribute substantially as part of a multidisciplinary team to improve outcomes in drug therapy in severe and critical illness. The participation of pharmacists as members of antimicrobial stewardship programs should be enhanced to ensure appropriate and safe use of antibiotics in this context. HCPs should be encouraged to seek improvements in the performance of pharmaceutical services and innovative practices to respond to the pandemic. Further studies are needed to generate knowledge on COVID-19 to improve patient care in vulnerable populations.

Covid-19 in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil: efforts of hospital pharmacy services

“…When COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, community pharmacies noted an increased stockpiling of drugs by population, especially those that were identified as promising therapies against the disease. [17][18][19] Highlighted orders for medications in anticipation of possible shortages also were observed in hospitals and other health institutions, contributing to drug scarcity related to pandemic. In this paper, at least one pharmacist of each hospital reported a lack or shortage of one or more drugs used in COVID-19 treatment (data not shown).…”

A importância do profissional farmacêutico nos serviços de assistências a saúde da população: execução dos testes de COVID-19 em drogaria

“…As atividades farmacêuticas compreendem a promoção e o uso seguro de medicamentos, principalmente na adesão de medicamentos utilizados para o tratamento de doenças agudas e crônicas (Martins et al, 2020). No cenário da pandemia, associado a grande repercussão da mídia ou diversos meios de informações, ocorre a chamada "infodemia" que significa "um grande aumento no volume de informações associadas a um assunto específico, que podem se multiplicar exponencialmente em pouco tempo devido a um evento específico.…”

Evaluation of Liver Enzyme Levels in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…The spectrum of COVID-19 is heterogeneous, and the infected cases may be asymptomatic (1.52%), mild-tomoderate (9.8%), severe (13.8%), and critical (4.7%) (6,7). The most common clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are fever, cough, shortness of breath, and fatigue.…”