Drive-thru pharmacy services: A way forward to combat COVID-19 pandemic

Hussain, Rabia; Dawoud, Dalia; Babar, Zaheer Ud Din

doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.07.015

Cited by 50 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…Before COVID-19, community pharmacies globally were offering “valued-added services” (VAS) such as drive-thru services, online ordering and communications services (e.g., prescription reminders) to stay competitive. Many VAS services have helped pharmacies adapt more quickly to pandemic restrictions 81 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Rapid Realist Review of the Role of Community Pharmacy in the Public Health Response to COVID-19

Maidment

Young

MacPhee

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Introduction Community pharmacists and their teams have remained accessible to the public providing essential services despite immense pressures during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have successfully expanded the influenza vaccination programme and are now supporting the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out. Aim This rapid realist review aims to understand how community pharmacy can most effectively deliver essential and advanced services, with a focus on vaccination, during the pandemic and in the future. Method An embryonic programme theory was generated using four diverse and complementary documents along with the expertise of the project team. Academic databases, preprint services and grey literature were searched and screened for documents meeting our inclusion criteria. The data was extracted from 103 documents to develop and refine a programme theory using a realist logic of analysis. Our analysis generated 13 context-mechanism-outcome configurations explaining when, why and how community pharmacy can support public health vaccination campaigns, maintain essential services during pandemics, and capitalise on opportunities for expanded, sustainable public health service roles. The views of stakeholders including pharmacy users, pharmacists, pharmacy teams and other healthcare professionals were sought throughout to refine the 13 explanatory configurations. Results The 13 context-mechanism-outcome configurations are organised according to decision makers, community pharmacy teams and community pharmacy users as key actors. Review findings include: supporting a clear role for community pharmacies in public health; clarifying pharmacists legal and professional liabilities; involving pharmacy teams in service specification design; providing suitable guidance, adequate compensation and resources; and leveraging accessible, convenient locations of community pharmacy. Discussion Community pharmacy has been able to offer key services during the pandemic. Decision makers must endorse, articulate and support a clear public health role for community pharmacy. We provide key recommendations for decision makers to optimise such a role during these unprecedented times and in the future.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Rapid Realist Review of the Role of Community Pharmacy in the Public Health Response to COVID-19

Maidment

Young

MacPhee

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In line with the WHO guidelines during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 [33], elderly patients, who are associated with higher risks of mortality with coronavirus infection [34], are encouraged to select drive-through services in order to avoid the crowds and limit the contact with others [35]. Drive-through pharmacy also has been encouraged locally and in Australia during the on-going pandemic of COVID-19 as a safety measure for the public especially the elderly to get their medication because the nature of this service enables the practice of physical distancing and it has been a proven e cient and safe method of medication dispensing [35,36]. In spite of many advantages of drive-through services, it is important to note that this service would be of maximum bene t for citizens who own a vehicle and when the hospital is faced with inadequate carparks [37][38][39][40].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satisfaction among patients and caregivers receiving value-added services during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in a tertiary hospital in the Perak state of Malaysia

Chew

Yeo

Chang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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BackgroundPatient satisfaction was used as an indicator of service quality in the public hospitals. The pharmacy value-added services was intensified after the COVID-19 outbreak, and evaluation of user’s satisfaction was important for service improvement. MethodsThis was a single-center, cross-sectional, web-based study in the outpatient pharmacy in a tertiary hospital in the Perak state of Malaysia. Patients and caregivers aged 18 years and above, received at least one prescription refill using the pharmacy VAS services from April to September 2020 were included. The questionnaire was adapted from a validated tool, underwent face and content validation before dissemination. The link was disseminated to the targeted population through short messages service (SMS).Results Out of 333 invited people, 303 agreed to participate. Majority of the respondents were male (160, 52.8%), Chinese (156, 51.5%), with tertiary education (201, 66.3%) and retiree (112, 37.0%). Out of a maximum score of 5, the overall mean satisfaction score was 4.42 (SD: 0.55). The respondents were most agreeable to time saving benefits of the pharmacy VAS (4.56±0.63). Majority of the respondents felt that pharmacy VAS had made their life easier (290, 95.7%) and planned to recommend the pharmacy VAS to others (292, 96.4%) Respondents aged more than 60 (vs. age 18-35, β=2.375, p<0.001) and those who used drive-through service (vs. SPUB, β=2.272, p=0.001) reported higher satisfaction scores. Several suggestions were made for service improvement, including longer operating hours (18, 6.0%), upgraded communication system (9, 3.0%), smoother registration process (9, 3.0%), more polite staff (9, 3.0%), selection of preferred postage delivery time (6, 2.0%) and promotion of value-added services (4, 1.3%)Conclusion Majority of the respondents were highly satisfied towards the pharmacy VAS. Future studies should compare the satisfaction of VAS with traditional counter service to compare the level and factors contributed to the users’ satisfaction.

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“…They reported that these drive-through visits provide services that were not possible through telehealth and remote examinations, while reducing the need for clinical visits and thus reducing the anxiety of patients who prefer face-to-face visits. Drive-through facilities have also been expanded and used for providing pharmacy services during COVID-19 [ 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Drive-through Simulation Tool for Mass Vaccination during COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2020

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Several research and development teams around the world are working towards COVID-19 vaccines. As vaccines are expected to be developed and produced, preparedness and planning for mass vaccination and immunization will become an important aspect of the pandemic management. Mass vaccination has been used by public health agencies in the past and is being proposed as a viable option for COVID-19 immunization. To be able to rapidly and safely immunize a large number of people against SARS-CoV-2, different mass vaccination options are available. Drive-through facilities have been successfully used in the past for immunization against other diseases and for testing during COVID-19. In this paper we introduce a drive-through vaccination simulation tool that can be used to enhance the planning, design, operation, and feasibility and effectiveness assessment of such facilities. The simulation tool is a hybrid model that integrates discrete event and agent-based modeling techniques. The simulation outputs visually and numerically show the average processing and waiting times and the number of cars and people that can be served (throughput values) under different numbers of staff, service lanes, screening, registration, immunization, and recovery times.

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Drive-thru pharmacy services: A way forward to combat COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 50 publications

References 20 publications

A Rapid Realist Review of the Role of Community Pharmacy in the Public Health Response to COVID-19

A Rapid Realist Review of the Role of Community Pharmacy in the Public Health Response to COVID-19

Satisfaction among patients and caregivers receiving value-added services during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in a tertiary hospital in the Perak state of Malaysia

A Drive-through Simulation Tool for Mass Vaccination during COVID-19 Pandemic

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