The pharmacist’s active role in combating COVID-19 medication misinformation

Abstract

Pharmacists listen to and dispel medication misinformation daily. Because of the accessibility of pharmacists, pharmacists have the opportunity during pharmacist-patient interactions to begin a dialogue with their patients and provide critical education to improve patient safety and public health. Current examples of pharmacists intervening with medication misinformation includes addressing the anti-vaccination community, educating on the safety of generic drugs, and using evidence-based medicine for antimicrobial stewardship. However, combatting medication misinformation in pharmacy practice with patients takes on many forms and can pose a number of challenges. Most recently during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a concurrent infodemic has led to claims of pharmacotherapeutic superiority and efficacy unsubstantiated by scientific evidence. Misinformation and partisan politics have also created a distrust in COVID-19 vaccine development. In addition, rogue internet pharmacies and companies have marketed new and unverified COVID-19 treatments and tests. Pharmacists must actively combat these instances of medication misinformation and educate their patients on how not to fall victim to convincing marketing and misinformation schemes. Pharmacists can help patients recognize misinformation by vetting sources of information and communicating how negative emotional information circulates. Additionally, pharmacists combat misinformation with patients by providing accurate alternative explanations in patient-friendly language. While it is easier to stay silent and let misinformation circulate, pharmacists must work with their healthcare team members to actively reject misinformation pertaining to medications, COVID-19 pharmacotherapy and vaccinations, and in any future public health crisis.

Percepção da população sobre o papel do Farmacêutico no contexto da pandemia do novo coronavírus

“…De acordo com nossos achados os infectados pelo coronavírus foram os que mais relataram serem atendidos por farmacêuticos durante a pandemia. Já com relação a procura pelo atendimento do farmacêutico antes da pandemia, a maioria só buscou por atendimento nos casos em que julgou grave e quando perguntados se buscarão a orientação farmacêutica na póspandemia a maioria afirmou que talvez busque (55,5%), enquanto apenas 7,2% afirmou que passará a buscar atendimento com esse profissional, reforçando o entendimento de que a classe farmacêutica precisa ser mais reconhecida pelos serviços de grande relevância prestados à sociedade, não só em tempos de calamidade na saúde, mas ao longo dos anos de atuação profissional promovendo o uso seguro de medicamentos, autonomia no cuidado, melhorando a segurança do paciente e a saúde pública (Agomo, 2012;Marwitz, 2020).…”

Pharmacists must combat mis/disinformation!

“…8 But we call for pharmacists to be good stewards of health information and actively participate in their vital role of combatting mis/ disinformation. 5,6 Now that vaccines are available for COVID-19, predictably, vaccine misinformation is rampant. Whether pharmacists are administering the vaccinations themselves or not, we must address vaccine and health mis/disinformation, especially while we are surrounded by the infodemic of the COVID-19 pandemic and the anxieties that bring to the public and our patients.…”

“…While it may be simpler to stay silent and let people figure things out for themselves, it is our duty as pharmacists and as health practitioners to dispel myths and actively educate others on health information. 5,6 The classic example of misinformation that surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic was the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. While it might have been easier as pharmacists to just dispense these prescriptions and not confront the lack of supportive evidence to justify using this medication (not to mention the potential serious adverse effects), we are doing a disservice to our patients, colleagues and society that rely on us for accurate, evidence-based medication information.…”

“…While it may be simpler to stay silent and let people figure things out for themselves, it is our duty as pharmacists and as health practitioners to dispel myths and actively educate others on health information. 5,6 The classic example of misinformation that surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic was the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.…”

Interactions between favipiravir and a BNC cage towards drug delivery applications

“…To this date, the problem of treating COVID-19 has not been solved yet and the deathful impacts are still seen for the people [ 4 – 6 ]. Regarding the importance of this issue, considerable efforts of researchers have been dedicated to find a way of prevention or treatment of COVID-19, but no certain solution has been found up to now [ 7 – 9 ]. Therefore, performing further research works on the topic of COVID-19 is still a must to be done [ 10 – 12 ].…”