Date: JULY 11, 2022 PHC 111 Lecture

Section: BSHARM 1A Rommel Valentin L. Diaz, RPh, MSPH.

Course: BS PHARMACY Summer 2021

PHARMACY SERVICES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC:

EXPERIENCE FROM A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL IN PAKISTAN

Ever since the pandemic started, hospitals and medical services in Pakistan was
in chaos and the healthcare providers were put under a lot of pressure. They were
obligated to conduct priority-based testing since the country’s testing capacity was
limited.

The journal, authored by Hussain, Ambreen, Muzammil, Raza, and Ali (2020),
discussed the responses formulated in order to cater to the maintenance and demands
of pharmacy services in Pakistan amidst the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak last 2019. It
has also discussed how the said pandemic put the medical and pharmacy services in
middle-to-low-income countries under an amount of pressure, as they experienced
shortage and rapid reduction of medical and drug supplies. Having to lessen the face-
to-face interaction between the patient and healthcare providers also increased the
difficulty in providing fast and quality healthcare service.

In order to cope with the demands of the situation, they have come up with six (6)
responses that significantly helped them.

One of which is providing event-driven pharmaceutical care. They strived for

an event-driven pharmaceutical care, which I believe, helped them further evaluate the
situation first in order to cater it with the best solution at hand. Due to this response, the
tasks were able to be disseminated and catered. Tele-clinical pharmacist activities
for making individualized treatment strategies with multidisciplinary team helped
the systems and processes inside the facility flow quickly as to cater to the limited social
interaction. Clinical pharmacists were able to review a patient’s medical profile through
the computerized pharmacy system and health information management system.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals were able to
communicate and discuss patient-related matters through videoconferencing calls.
Healthcare providers made it easier to communicate and collaborate through WhatsApp
groups which allowed for a 24-hour availability of communication. Keeping the
front-line health care providers updated through drug evaluation and
evidence-based guidelines, implementing this response significantly helped
pharmacists and other healthcare providers to ensure that the efficacy and safety of
anti-virals and glucocorticoids are evaluated and thoroughly monitored, and since the
condition of the pandemic is evolving, and the patients’ need for drugs or medicines
increased and became uncertain, healthcare providers are in need of a regular update
on the use of medications for COVID-19 patients. This response also was a benefit as it
was able to address drug indications, availability of dosage forms and schedule of
dosing, possible routes of administration, associated ADR’s, precautions, and
conditions that require dose adjustment. Guidance for pharmacy staff for continuity
of services; redesigned shift hours, as the pharmacists and other healthcare
providers are more increasingly exposed, their chance of being infected also increases,
therefore, this response allowed them to have adjusted work hours where they are only
present at work for a few hours in order to limit their exposure by also limiting their
exposure time with regards to interacting with patients and other colleagues. They
believed that being appreciative and empathetic with the staff leads to the maintenance
of high staff morale. Mitigation of drug shortages issues, this response was helpful
as it significantly catered in preventing the disruption of production processes and
international transports which may be caused due to any shortage of OTC and
prescribed medicines. It allowed the pharmacy staff to be alert and prompt in
addressing any shortage issues. Reduced medication wastage by implementation of
unit dosage system, this response enabled them to develop a physician order entry
system, wherein the doctor is able to enter or encode medication orders which the
pharmacists would verify. This response also enabled the practice of unit dosage form
system wherein the pharmacists only dispense one dose of a drug at a time, which
significantly helped in lessening the wastage of medications.
 Therefore, we can conclude that battling against COVID-19 virus takes a lot of
effort and teamwork to overcome the challenges the pandemic has brought. Having to
come up with the responses mentioned above did not only significantly help in
protecting the health and maintaining the safety of the healthcare providers, but it also
made communication flowing amidst social interaction limitation, as well as lessen the
wastage of unused medication usage.

In the midst of having a number of restrictions and rules to follow, we cannot

deny that it has been a difficult challenge, but as healthcare providers, we must always
remember that the health of our patients, as well as ourselves and our colleagues, is
our primary concern. We must always be ready to assess ourselves and the
surroundings for any uncertainty and address it in the best way possible in order to
provide the best healthcare and service to the patients.

REFERENCE/S:

Hussain, K., Ambreen, G., Muzammil, M. et al. (2020). Pharmacy services during
COVID-19 pandemic: experience from a tertiary care teaching hospital in
Pakistan. J of Pharm Policy and Pract 13, 74. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-020-
00277-5

By:

KAITLYN ALEXANDRA ALIT