Pharmacy response to COVID-19: lessons learnt from Canada

Abstract

When the first wave of COVID-19 hit in March 2020, health care professionals across Canada were challenged to quickly and efficiently adapt to change their work practices in these unprecedented times. Pharmacy professionals, being some of the very few front-line health care workers who remained accessible in person for patients, had to rapidly adopt critical changes in their pharmacies to respond in the best interest of their patients and their pharmacy staff. As challenging and demanding as such changes were, they provided pharmacists with invaluable lessons that would be imperative as the country enters a potentially more dangerous second wave. This article seeks to identify and summarize opportunities for improvement in pharmacy as learnt from the pandemic’s first wave. Such areas include but are not limited to handling of drug shortage and addressing drug hoarding and stockpiling, providing physical and mental support for staff, timing of flu vaccine and COVID-19 screening/testing, collaboration between different health care sites as well as collaboration with patients and with other health care professionals, telemedicine and willingness to adopt innovative ideas, need for more staff training and more precise research to provide accurate information and finally the need for more organizational and workplace support. Learning from what went well and what did not work in the early stages of the pandemic is integral to ensure pharmacy professionals are better prepared to protect themselves and their patients amidst a second and possibly subsequent waves.

International trends in prescription opioid sales among developed and developing economies, and the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐sectional analysis of 66 countries

“… 14 , 19 , 20 As a result, many countries introduced limits on the duration of chronic medications, including opioids, which could be dispensed to protect unstable drug supplies and prevent gaps in access for patients. 19 , 21 Second, as public health restrictions were introduced around the world, many people experienced challenges accessing healthcare providers, and there was a reduction in surgeries and dental services which as often associated with opioid use. Therefore, our findings suggest that gaps in accessing care and pharmacy services may have also led to interruptions in opioid therapy.…”

Cooperation Between Pharmacists and Physicians – Whether It Was Before and is It Still Ongoing During the Pandemic?

“…Community pharmacists are the most accessible and qualified help for society during pandemic, as pharmacies are one of the few places that are permanently open for the communities. [47][48][49] As studies show, pharmacists have solid knowledge about the current pandemic. Awareness is a key factor in society's response in protective behaviors.…”

Dispensing patterns of mental health medications before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, Canada: An interrupted time series analysis

“…This may have reflected a “hoarding and stockpiling” phenomenon where pharmacies ordered more stock of the medication in response to rising pressure from the public to dispense more than their usual duration of medications. 11 Many news outlets reported on the stockpiling of essential supplies including toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and masks, and our results suggest this was also true for medications. A cross sectional study done in Germany showed that there were surges in pharmacy purchasing behavior for psychotropic, neurologic, and cardiovascular drugs dubbed as “panic buying” associated with the COVID-19 lockdown.…”