Recommendations and guidance for providing pharmaceutical care services during COVID-19 pandemic: A China perspective.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), which was first detected in Wuhan City, has now became a pandemic that affecting patients around the world. Particularly, the community patient population are at high risk of infection and are facing potential failure of proper medication use during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: To discuss community pharmacists' role and the content of pharmaceutical care (PC) during the novel coronavirus pandemic to promote effective prevention and control and safe drug use of the community patient population. METHOD: Collect and summarize the experience Chinese community pharmacies gained from providing pharmacy services during the COVID-19 outbreak, and taking patients' PC needs into consideration, analyze and discuss the methods and strategies that community pharmacies and pharmacists shall use to provide PC during the pandemic. RESULTS: Community pharmacy management teams shall support PC services by providing adequate supply of COVID-19 related medications and preventative products, following environment regulations, and providing sufficient staff trainings. Pharmacists shall use various approaches to provide PC services in drug dispensing, consulting and referrals, chronic disease management, safe use of infusions, patient education, home care guidance and psychological support to promote the COVID-19 pandemic control and ensure safe medication use of community patients during the pandemic. CONCLUSION: PC services in communities during the COVID-19 shall possess different properties due to disease characteristics and related change in patients' need. Community pharmacies shall work as a strong supporter of patient's medication and protective equipment supply. Community pharmacists shall be prepared to provide skilled and effective PC services for community patient population to ensure medication safety and promote the overall COVID-19 pandemic control.

Drug-Related Problems Identified During Pharmacy Intervention and Consultation: Implementation of an Intensive Care Unit Pharmaceutical Care Model.

AIM: To identify common drug-related problems (DRPs) during pharmacy intervention and consultation in an intensive care unit (ICU); to explore the gap between physicians and pharmacists on their understanding of each other's capabilities and needs. METHOD: We conducted a single-center prospective study in the ICU of a tertiary academic hospital for 21 months. A pharmaceutical care (PC) model was implemented by a pharmacy team, and data were collected during pharmacy intervention and consultation. Data analysis was performed on identified DRPs, causes and their relationships. DRPs' frequency during intervention and consultation was compared. Problem-level descriptive analysis and network analysis were conducted using R 3.6.3. RESULT: Implementation of PC model greatly improved the efficacy of pharmacists in both interventions proposed to solve DRPs (from 13.6 to 20.1 cases per month) and number of patients being closely monitored (from 7.7 to 16.9 per month). Pharmacists identified 427 DRPs during pharmacy intervention with primarily adverse drug events (ADEs, 34.7%) and effect of treatment not optimal (25.5%), and 245 DRPs during consultation (mainly ADEs, 58.4%). About three-fifths DRPs were caused by antibiotics. Comparing DRPs identified during pharmacy intervention and consultation, physicians consulted pharmacists more on questions related to medication safety, while pharmacists also paid attention to treatment effectiveness, which was consulted less commonly. CONCLUSION: Implementation of PC model is beneficial in guiding pharmacy practice and improving efficacy especially under limited human resources. Physicians and pharmacists shall continue ensuring drug safety and be familiar with the scope of PC and clinical need for a better cooperation.