Implementation of a novel home delivery service during pandemic

Abstract

Introduction During the COVID-19 pandemic, measures have been put in place to adapt to patients' needs during home quarantine, such as "telehealthcare". With this service, hospital pharmacists develop a distinct role via the implementation of pharmacovigilance services and pharmaceutical care plans for patients with comorbidities, and for special populations as immunosuppressed patients. Methods Cross-sectional study involving hospital and community pharmacists actively practising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients who could not come to the hospital pharmacy department were provided with a delivery service to the community pharmacy of their choice. Results A total of 1186 patients requested this service. Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents were the most indemand medication, followed by rheumatoid arthritis and antiretroviral drugs. 125 patients responded to the telephone survey, most of whom stated that they would use the delivery service again, and expressed their desire to continue doing so. Discussion Without a doubt, telepharmacy and medication delivery services have provided multiple benefits during home quarantine. The delivery service enabled us to provide drugs to patients in their immediate environment through a service that was free for both the patient and the hospital pharmacy service. However, at present, the available evidence of the impact of telepharmacy models is sparse. Conclusions This medication delivery service has provided multiple benefits to patients during home quarantine. Although the users of this service seem to be satisfied with the current model, in the future, we should consider which patients would benefit most from this service and shape it to individual needs.

Telepharmacy during COVID-19: A Scoping Review

“…Reimbursement issues were also noted by one case study from Bangladesh [ 47 ]. A challenge not noted by expert opinion was limited legislation allowing implementation of telepharmacy; this was also seen in the literature review articles [ 37 , 41 , 47 ]. The literature reviews also discovered that pharmacists lacked appropriate training related to disaster management and had difficulty navigating the COVID-19 pandemic [ 46 ].…”

“…The most commonly observed telepharmacy initiatives were virtual consultations, home delivery of medicines and patient education based on case studies and original research articles [ 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. At least one case study from a cancer institute reported offering telepharmacy to patients at-risk [ 33 ].…”

“…In line with expert opinion, pharmacies spent time with patients ahead of a virtual visit, explaining the process and providing education on how to use the new platforms [ 26 ]. Pharmacies prepared for patient visits by identifying patient preferences and identifying patients who require intensive pharmaceutical care and thus determining the patients who would benefit most from telepharmacy versus in-person visits [ 26 , 41 ]. Additionally, pharmacists also obtained information from patients to optimize appointment time [ 33 ].…”

“…A case study from Spain reported the use of integrating geo-location for efficient delivery of medicines [ 35 ]. Research from Spain and the United Arab Emirates reported using a telephone survey to measure patient satisfaction and evaluating the effectiveness of telepharmacy by examining the rate of dispensing errors and the number and nature of pharmacists’ interventions [ 41 , 42 ]. Another study from the Netherlands reported increased use of online patient education tools and online refill prescriptions [ 43 ].…”

Developing a telepharmacy programme with home medication dispensing and informed delivery in a tertiary hospital: description of the model and analysis of the results

“…In a survey of 185 Spanish public hospitals, 83.2% of PS did not include medication delivery as part of their remote pharmaceutical care service prior to the health crisis 11. The declaration of the state of alarm on 14 March 2020 presented PS with an opportunity to develop and implement new models of remote care and remote medication dispensing 12–15…”