Background Rapid spread of COVID-19 forced the public to turn to community pharmacies as the most accessible points of primary healthcare, overloading pharmacy services. The objectives of this research were to detect and describe the changes in work environment of community pharmacists in Vojvodina during the state of emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic effects on job related stress were assessed. Methods Community pharmacists from Vojvodina completed an online questionnaire on work environment changes related to COVID-19 (cross-sectional study). Results Out of the 1574 licenced pharmacists in Vojvodina, 392 completed the survey. Workload increase, reported by 90.8% of pharmacists, was caused mostly by higher demand for safety equipment, antiseptics and disinfectants, dietary products and medicines. Most pharmacists (93.1%) considered pharmacy workflow to be more complex than before the pandemic. Clients’ behavior was described as less pleasant since the start of the pandemic by 67.6% of the community pharmacists. Many were concerned for their health and the health of their families (68.9%). Community pharmacists rated their stress levels higher if they i) were working in larger chains, ii) experienced clients’ behavior as less pleasant or/and iii) were concerned for their/their family health. Conclusions Current research pointed out the need for a more robust healthcare system which would allow rapid introduction of new activities and roles for community pharmacists that could possibly decrease job-related stress. Legal steps to improve the work environment in community pharmacies are necessary and urgent in order to fully utilize their skills and knowledge.

In order to increase the level of work motivation and job satisfaction of health workers in rural areas, apart from better income, they should get more assistance and support from their supervisors, and awards for good job performance; interpersonal relationships, promotion and advancement opportunities, managerial performance and cooperation at work should be improved; employment security should be provided, as well as more independence at work, with professional supervision of health workers.

Nutritional care represents any practice provided by a health professional, aimed to improve the patient’s health outcomes by influencing patient’s dietary habits. Clearly, dietitians are the ones supposed to provide top-quality nutrition care, but their services are often inaccessible to many for various reasons. This obliges general practitioners (GPs) in primary health care to provide nutritional counselling to their patients to a certain extent. Preconditions to successful nutritional counselling are GPs with adequate nutritional knowledge, positive attitudes towards nutrition and nutritional care, self-confident and competent in nutritional counselling. Therefore, the aim of this review is to summarise currently available information on nutritional knowledge, confidence and attitudes towards nutritional care and nutrition counselling practice of GPs, as well as barriers towards provision of nutritional counselling. GPs do not consistently obtain satisfying results in nutrition knowledge assessments and their self-confidence in nutrition counselling skills varies. Studies suggest that nutritional counselling practice still has not met its full potential, and GPs frequently report various barriers that impair nutritional counselling practice. Thus, health policies that help overcome barriers and create stimulating environment for GPs to implement nutrition counselling strategies efficiently are the key to improving quality and quantity of nutritional counselling.

High sodium intake in students of the University of Novi Sad puts them at high risk of developing high blood pressure. The food industry should work towards reformulating products with high sodium content, especially bread and other bakery products. Efforts should be taken to reduce sodium intake among undergraduate students in Novi Sad.

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