ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has established an interim guidance of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for pharmacists worldwide. The aim of this study was to identify the implementation of FIP guidance in China and provide applicable strategies for further actions. METHODS: A nationwide cross-sectional survey on Chinese pharmacists was distributed electronically through groups of WeChat between 9 December 2020 and 18 December 2020. The 29-item questionnaire for the survey was designed based on the FIP guidance and knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) framework. RESULTS: A total of 237 responses from 237 pharmacists (69.20% females) were received. Most pharmacists (81.86%) participated in work related to COVID-19. Respondents referred to other guidelines or consensus more than they did to FIP guidance. Most participants were qualified for the knowledge-based questions regarding COVID-19 (67.51%), had positive attitudes towards pharmacists' roles and actions (61.18%), and were qualified in the practices of prevention measures, infection risk monitoring, and pharmacists' advice (50.63%). Several factors were revealed as having impact on pharmacists' KAP, such as the relevance of participating in work related to COVID-19, work entailments, and information source. CONCLUSIONS: The FIP guidance has a certain degree of dissemination and implementation in China, which can be improved through effective actions directed towards impact factors.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of pharmacists and innovation of pharmacy interventions for COVID-19 patients in China. METHODS: We comprehensively searched PubMed and Chinese databases Sinomed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure to identify articles reporting pharmacist interventions and pharmacy services for COVID-19 patients using a predefined search strategy. The search period was from inception to April 7th 2020. We also manually searched the reference list of included articles and websites of important journals with special issues for COVID-19. RESULTS: A total of 156 articles were identified by applying the search criteria. After screening, 91 articles, with the majority are literature reviews (n = 77, 84.62%) published in Chinese (n = 83, 91.2%), were included. Pharmacist interventions for COVID-19 patients most commonly related to guidelines or consensus development for the treatment of disease and practice procedure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (n = 10, 10.98%), the supply of medicines to treat patients with severe respiratory or systematic symptoms related to COVID-19 (n = 10, 10.98%), formulating infections prevention and control strategies related to COVID-19 for pharmaceutical personnel/pharmacy staff (n = 14, 15.39%), new way of delivery pharmacy services and the implementation of new pharmacy services for COVID-19 outbreak (n = 14, 15.39%), routine pharmacy services under the restrict limit of COVID-19 outbreak (n = 39, 42.86%), and case series analysis of treatment regimens using existing, routinely collected data (n = 4, 4.40%). CONCLUSION: Pharmacy services have a role in the COVID-19 pandemic control, and there were many rapid changes in response to the pandemic.