Impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the provision of pharmaceutical care in community pharmacies
Background: Community pharmacists and their teams are easy accessible healthcare providers with an important role in primary care. As a consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic, (pharmaceutical) care and specifically communication between patients and healthcare providers is compromised. Objective: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the provision of pharmaceutical care in the Netherlands. Methods: A cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire was sent to community pharmacies in the Netherlands. The questionnaire covered the following main topics: changes in pharmacy setting... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | Artikel |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2021 |
Schlagwörter: | Adult / COVID-19/epidemiology / Communication / Community Pharmacy Services/organization & administration / Cross-Sectional Studies / Female / Health Services Accessibility / Humans / Male / Middle Aged / Netherlands / Patient Education as Topic/methods / Pharmacists/organization & administration / Primary Health Care/organization & administration / Professional Role / Surveys and Questionnaires / Telemedicine/organization & administration |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28789950 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/410890 |
Background: Community pharmacists and their teams are easy accessible healthcare providers with an important role in primary care. As a consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic, (pharmaceutical) care and specifically communication between patients and healthcare providers is compromised. Objective: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the provision of pharmaceutical care in the Netherlands. Methods: A cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire was sent to community pharmacies in the Netherlands. The questionnaire covered the following main topics: changes in pharmacy setting and logistic procedures, communication about medication and baseline characteristics. Results: Pharmacies implemented hygiene measures and minimized direct patient-provider contact, e.g. by delivering medication at home to a wider range of patients (47.0%), temporarily not conducting medication reviews (55.8%) and only performing inhalation instructions via telephone (22.3%). Only a small number of pharmacies used telepharmacy, such as video calling during patient education and counseling. A total of 76.7% of the participants expressed concerns towards the pharmaceutical care for vulnerable patients. Conclusions: Our results show considerable impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on both logistic procedures and services regarding patient education and counseling. Pharmacies should be stimulated to implement telepharmacy or remote service to optimally support patients during the COVID-19 epidemic.