ABSTRACT
Service or Program: Throughout COVID-19, complex therapeutics and medication protocols left clinicians overwhelmed by contradicting information leading to drug-related problems (DRPs) potentially leading to ineffective pharmacotherapy and drug-related morbidity and mortality. DRPs queries are time consuming, utilize different resources, and require skills and experience to provide accurate answers3. Quick answers are paramount in the Emergency Department (ED) especially during pandemic period. Clinical pharmacists (CP) can identify and resolve DRPs but are only available from 7AM-3PM in ED. We set up on-call CP service for ED DRPs calls during out-of-office hours.This study aimed to assess the capacity of the service to capture 100% of calls received and to measure the time taken to resolve DRP queries compared to international standard. Justification/Documentation: A dedicated ED CP on-call phone line until 10pm daily was arranged by Hamad General Hospital Pharmacy (Qatar).Data was documented on a logbook/Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and analysed using predefined parameters. Adaptability: Between March-September 2020, 133 DRPs calls were received and resolved by CP. 38% of these were related to drug interaction/safety, adverse drug reactions, dose-adjustments, drug-allergies, and drug in pregnancy.30% were related to medication administration, such as infusion rates, titration, and IV compatibility. Those questions were mostly received from nurses(Figure 1).Appropriate dose selection and appropriate indication represented 21% and 11% respectively (Figure 2). Caller's acceptance rate to responses provided by CP were 100%. Responses were documented in patients' EMR. The call duration extracted from phone-log showed an average time of 4.66 minutes/call which is below average standard of 15-30 minutes. Significance: Availability of clinical pharmacists to provide quick, acceptable responses to DRPs queries, is crucial given the complexity and diversity of ED patients. During COVID-19, on-call clinical pharmacy service has proven its capability to resolve DRPs and support clinical decision-making process in a relatively shorter time.
ABSTRACT
Service or Program: Pharmacy, nursing, and other non-medical students at Binghamton University assisted in the administration of weekly point-of-care (POC) COVID-19 surveillance testing to the student, faculty, and staff population. The program was developed by Binghamton University and the tests were administered at Binghamton's on-campus surveillance testing center. Justification/Documentation: Ensuring students can remain on campus and get a quality in-person education is integral to meeting Binghamton's educational standards. Students were tested frequently so proper mitigation measures could be enacted quickly. Testing participants were given a nasal swab at the Surveillance Testing Center and instructed on its use by an administrator. In a survey conducted by our research team, 91.9% (203/221) of respondents stated they were either "very comfortable" or "somewhat comfortable" receiving COVID-19 testing from pharmacist students, as compared with 93.7% (208/222) who were comfortable with nursing students. Additionally, only 6 participants (2.7%) said they believe pharmacists should be less involved in POC testing going forward, as compared to 139 (62.3%) who stated they want more involvement. Both of these measures point towards a public perception that the field of pharmacy should have greater involvement in POC testing. Adaptability: Pharmacist-led POC testing programs, if authorized through legislation, would be best implemented at retail pharmacies due to their accessibility. Although the results of our survey skewed young and female, results did not vary significantly between the age groups or sexes and should be broadly generalizable to the public. Significance: Greater involvement for pharmacists in POC testing can be implemented in retail pharmacies in New York state following a change in legislation and by granting pharmacists provider status nationwide. Pharmacies are more accessible than doctor's offices, especially for underserved rural and minority populations;allowing pharmacists more authority to administer testing could help improve healthcare access and health outcomes.