TY - JOUR
T1 - How medicines sales staff is responding to presumptive COVID‐19 patients attending drug retail outlets
T2 - An exploratory qualitative study
AU - Atif, Muhammad
AU - Ahmad, Muhammad
AU - Malik, Iram
AU - Mushtaq, Irem
AU - Ahmad, Nafees
AU - Rana, Mehjabin
AU - Babar, Zaheer-Ud-Din
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the respondents for their participation. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - The objective of this qualitative study was to explore how the medicine sales staff responded to presumptive COVID-19 patients in Pakistan. The data were obtained from the medicine sales staff working at drug retail outlets of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, through in-depth face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. A two-step sampling strategy was used, including purposive and convenient sampling techniques. Sample size was determined by applying the saturation point criteria. A total of 17 interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the thematic analysis. Analysis of data yielded six themes and seven sub-themes. The themes included (1) knowledge about various aspects of COVID-19, (2) practices of sales staff in response to COVID-19 pandemic, (3) attitude of sales staff towards COVID-19 pandemic, (4) services offered to presumptive COVID-19 patients, (5) challenges encountered during pandemic and (6) suggestions to improve delivery of pharmacy services by sales staff. In Pakistan, non-pharmacist sales staff had superficial knowledge about COVID-19. Presumptive COVID-19 patients were provided with only basic pharmacy services. Professional training is advised among pharmacy sales staff as a short-term solution to improve their knowledge. As a long-term goal, the availability of pharmacists at drug retail outlets is warranted.
AB - The objective of this qualitative study was to explore how the medicine sales staff responded to presumptive COVID-19 patients in Pakistan. The data were obtained from the medicine sales staff working at drug retail outlets of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, through in-depth face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. A two-step sampling strategy was used, including purposive and convenient sampling techniques. Sample size was determined by applying the saturation point criteria. A total of 17 interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the thematic analysis. Analysis of data yielded six themes and seven sub-themes. The themes included (1) knowledge about various aspects of COVID-19, (2) practices of sales staff in response to COVID-19 pandemic, (3) attitude of sales staff towards COVID-19 pandemic, (4) services offered to presumptive COVID-19 patients, (5) challenges encountered during pandemic and (6) suggestions to improve delivery of pharmacy services by sales staff. In Pakistan, non-pharmacist sales staff had superficial knowledge about COVID-19. Presumptive COVID-19 patients were provided with only basic pharmacy services. Professional training is advised among pharmacy sales staff as a short-term solution to improve their knowledge. As a long-term goal, the availability of pharmacists at drug retail outlets is warranted.
KW - community pharmacies
KW - COVID-19
KW - drug retail outlets
KW - Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan
KW - medicines sales staff
KW - pharmacy services
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112348389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/hpm.3293
DO - 10.1002/hpm.3293
M3 - Article
C2 - 34390010
VL - 36
SP - 2297
EP - 2312
JO - International Journal of Health Planning and Management
JF - International Journal of Health Planning and Management
SN - 0749-6753
IS - 6
ER -
