Hospital pharmacists’ pharmaceutical care for hospitalized patients with COVID-19: Recommendations and guidance from clinical experience

Abstract

A B S T R A C TObjective: To discuss hospital pharmacists' role in providing pharmaceutical care for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 to promote patient care and management during the pandemic. Method: Based on the method of evidence-based pharmacy, clinical evidence of therapeutical drugs for COVID-19 were retrieved and summarized. Based on clinical experience Chinese hospital pharmacists gained from providing pharmaceutical care services during COVID-19 pandemic, taking COVID-19 hospitalized patients' needs into consideration, the methods and strategies hospital pharmacists shall use to provide pharmaceutical care were analyzed and summarized. Results: Hospital pharmacists shall support pharmaceutical care services by participating in making evidence-based decisions for medication, monitoring and evaluation of medication safety and efficacy, providing strengthened care for special population and patients with combined underlying diseases, monitoring and management of convalescent plasma therapy, providing emotional counselling and psychological support, and providing scientific information about COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusion: The need of pharmaceutical care services in COVID-19 hospitalized patients during this pandemic was quite distinguished from the past. Hospital pharmacists shall join the collaborative multidisciplinary team to improve COVID-19 patients' outcome and reduce mortality, and to facilitate the pandemic control.

Pharmacists at the frontline beating the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Lower Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) are in a greater need for pharmacists' support where patients are unable to afford the doctor fees for a consultation. In absence of a standard treatment the importance of provision of pharmaceutical care by pharmacists managing the COVID-19 cases increased many-folds [13]. Similarly a different set of attributes then the routine conditions were observed in the pharmaceutical care provided by the Chinese Community pharmacists in dealing with the pandemic situation including maintaining controlled work environment, provision of information and necessary medical supplies as well as ensuring the regular medication and counselling are managed at best to avoid undue patient visits to healthcare facilities.…”

Pharmacists’ perceived barriers towards delivering their emergency roles during the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived policymakers’ responsibilities

“…The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) released a guideline on the 19th of March 2020 clarifying the required coronavirus information for pharmacists and the pharmacy workforce [ 13 ], acknowledging the responsibilities put upon the pharmacists in the control of the COVID-19 outbreak [ 13 ]. New roles and responsibilities included the stable supply of key medicines and preventative products, provision of information about the coronavirus pandemic, performing early detection of cases via patient questioning about signs and symptoms, appropriately referring patients, providing sufficient tailored staff training, providing psychological support to patients [ 14 , 15 ], and implementing governmental and policymaker mandated procedures [ 16 , 17 ]. Pharmacists were also expected to play a role in promoting a culture of empathy, by helping prevent the stigmatization of infected individuals based on ethnicity, population or nationality, and by broadcasting COVID-19 facts in their communities via various media [ 18 ].…”

Pharmacy Preparedness and Response for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Aksum, Ethiopia; a Qualitative Exploration

“…The study found necessary preparedness measures were undertaken to control the current public health threat of COVID-19 regarding pharmacy service. In line with other studies recommendations [10,11], community and hospital pharmacists were working at the frontline to combat the pandemic disease. This helps in the urgent control of public health emergencies like COVID-19.…”

“…Similar to our nding, public health emergencies like COVID-19 need a multidisciplinary effort to control and improve patients' treatment outcome [10]. Due to the more accessible nature of community pharmacies, linking patients who are suspected to COVID-19 to healthcare system is feasible and more helpful to contain the pandemic disease [19,20].…”

“…Study informants were selected purposively and interview was stopped in the sixth interview due to saturation of information. The semi-structured data collection instrument was developed based on literatures pertinent to our study [9,10]. The data collection instrument consisted questions about sociodemographic information, pharmacy preparedness activities against COVID-19, patient education and support given for clients and assessment tips checked on direct observation.…”