Pharmaceutical care during COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and perspectives

Abstract

COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is raising many questions about the future of face-to-face interactions. The possible changes on health care delivery may provoke a longterm disruption on pharmaceutical assistance requiring new approaches to provide pharmaceutical services.The proposal of pharmaceutical care is patient oriented. Its activities include different forms of interaction, such as interviews, exams, clinical evaluations and multidisciplinary performances. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the measures for reducing transmissions rates, like voluntary quarantine and social isolation, had affected many pharmaceutical follow-ups in progress. Faced with the demand for the maintenance of clinical care activities, professionals, services and institutions are being bombarded with new applications and approaches for the restoration of care. The highlights of some international experiences can serve as an example for pharmaceutical performance, not only in the current scenario, but also in the post-pandemic period.More than rethink the pharmaceutical care structure; the emergence of COVID-19 puts to the test all the efforts to reposition pharmaceutical care in the set of clinical activities. From the beginning, there was a leading role on the face-to-face interaction and evaluation of drug therapeutic effects. Now, we are facing the possibility of maintaining the assistance mediated by technology and privilege other themes in consultations, such as self-care measures, the use of individual protection devices and psychological support.The pharmaceutical consultations and group activities, which played a fundamental role in the reformulation of pharmacy practices, must be revised in order to reduce the risks of patient agglomeration and contamination. The Brazilian Pharmaceutical Assistance Department worked quickly at the beginning of the COVID-19 emergence, issuing guidelines regarding the execution of pharmaceutical care actions, aimed to reorganizing workflow (Brazil, 2020).