The Role of Hospital and Community Pharmacists in the Management of COVID-19: Towards an Expanded Definition of the Roles, Responsibilities, and Duties of the Pharmacist

Abstract

Since late December 2019, a novel, emerging coronavirus was identified as the infectious agent responsible for a generally mild but sometimes severe and even life-threatening disease, termed as “coronavirus disease 2019” (COVID-19). The pathogen was initially named as “2019 novel coronavirus” (2019-nCoV) and later renamed as “Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus type 2” (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 quickly spread from the first epicenter, the city of Wuhan, province of Hubei, mainland China, into neighboring countries, and became a global pandemic. As of July 15th 2020, the outbreak is still ongoing, with SARS-CoV-2 affecting 213 countries and territories. The coronavirus has caused a dramatic toll of deaths and imposed a severe burden, both from a societal and economic point of view. COVID-19 has challenged health systems, straining and overwhelming healthcare facilities and settings, including hospital and community pharmacies. On the other hand, COVID-19 has propelled several changes. During the last decades, pharmacy has shifted from being products-based and patient-facing to being services-based and patient-centered. Pharmacies have transitioned from being compounding centers devoted to the manipulation of materia medica to pharmaceutical centers, clinical pharmacies and fully integrated “medical-pharmaceutical networks”, providing a significant range of non-prescribing services. Moreover, roles, duties and responsibilities of pharmacists have paralleled such historical changes and have known a gradual expansion, incorporating new skills and reflecting new societal demands and challenges. The COVID-19 outbreak has unearthed new opportunities for pharmacists: community and hospital pharmacists have, indeed, played a key role during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that a fully integrated, inter-sectoral and inter-professional collaboration is necessary to face crises and public health emergencies. Preliminary, emerging evidence seems to suggest that, probably, a new era in the history of pharmacies (“the post-COVID-19 post-pharmaceutical care era”) has begun, with community pharmacists acquiring more professional standing, being authentic heroes and frontline health workers.

New Ways of Working? A Rapid Exploration of Emerging Evidence Regarding the Care of Older People during COVID19

“…Further research should capture the resources that are needed to support the sustaining of innovations that have occurred. Emerging academic literature focusing on the impact of COVID19 on health systems is capturing how healthcare staff are adapting and expanding their practices, thereby enabling the health system to respond to this public health emergency [70,71]. Sustaining positive changes, particularly those pertaining to inter-professional collaboration, communication and sharing of information, will require ongoing support and resourcing [72,73].…”

Influence of COVID-19 on Health-Related Quality of Life and the Perception of Being Vaccinated to Prevent COVID-19: An Approach for Community Pharmacists from Romania and Bulgaria

“…Over a year has passed since the first declared case of COVID-19, a life-threatening infection, on 31st of December 2019, and all of our socio-economic life aspects have been affected while facing this worldwide pandemic [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Frontline health workers have reached unprecedented anxiety levels, as information regarding contagiousness and pharmacotherapeutic management remains uncertain [ 1 ].…”

“…Inter-professional collaboration among healthcare settings, including community pharmacies, is highly recommended in order to face and manage the COVID-19 pandemic [ 2 ]. During the Ebola epidemics, for example, effective communication between physicians and community pharmacists was noted as a good control measure in avoiding the infection spread [ 7 ].…”

“…Permanent fear of infection due to insufficient social distancing in pharmacies, aggressive patient behavior and higher stress levels could affect cognitive functioning in pharmacists and could weaken their attention [ 1 , 12 ]. Community pharmacists have also been involved in the screening and triage of COVID-19 patients ( Figure 1 ), as well as in ensuring continuity of care for non-COVID-19 illnesses and promoting pharmacological adherence, which further increased the negative impact on their well-being [ 2 , 9 ]. However, pharmacists have shown a trustworthy attitude regarding the adoption of protective measures ( Figure 1 ), despite the increased risk of burnout [ 8 , 10 , 12 ].…”

“…They even provided surveillance of suspicious cases, symptoms-related counselling and advice to patients on whether they should be quarantined or not, depending on their clinical manifestations ( Figure 1 ) [ 7 ]. Community pharmacists also improved medical education among their patients by using telehealth consulting and new technologies [ 2 ]. Moreover, pharmacists maintained contact, through different and accessible smart mobile applications, e-mails, video calls and written text messages, with all individuals who requested pharmaceutical assistance ( Figure 1 ) [ 2 ].…”