TY - JOUR
T1 - Pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 in Europe
T2 - Mapping current practices and a scoping review
AU - Costa, Suzete
AU - Romao, Mariana
AU - Mendes, Maria
AU - Horta, Maria Rute
AU - Rodrigues, António Teixeira
AU - Carneiro, António Vaz
AU - Martins, Anna Paula
AU - Mallarini, Erika
AU - Naci, Huseyin
AU - Babar, Zaheer-Ud-Din
N1 - Funding Information:
This research is supported by an unrestricted grant from the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) and from the Associação Nacional das Farmácias (ANF) and developed by a Research Team from Portugal led by the Institute for Evidence-Based Health (ISBE) , assisted by an Expert Panel of Researchers from the SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) , London School of Economics and Political Science ( UK ), and the University of Huddersfield (UK).
Funding Information:
ISBE (where SC, AVC, APM work) is supported by an unrestricted grant from the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) and from the Associação Nacional das Farmácias (ANF) for this research. MR, MM, MRH, and ATR are employed by ANF . EM, HN, and ZB are supported by an unrestricted grant from PGEU for this research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has put community pharmacists at the frontline of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Pharmacies had to reorganize and implement several different interventions and measures within a very short time frame. Objectives: 1) To map the current reported practice and trends and to review the literature on pharmacy-based interventions on COVID-19 provided in Europe; 2) To identify knowledge gaps and future avenues for pharmacy research, policy, and practice in response to public health emergencies. Methods: We used a mixed methods approach combining country mapping of current practices of pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 reported by pharmacy associations in Europe with a scoping review of published literature. Results: We mapped current practices on 31 pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 in 32 countries in Europe. Almost all preventive measures to reduce health risks have been provided in most countries. Other frequent interventions reflected preparedness for stockpiling, increased demand for services and products, and important patient care interventions exceeding dispensing role. Expanded powers granted to pharmacies and legislation passed in view of COVID-19 enabled services that improve access to medicines and relevant products, patient screening and referral including point-of-care antigen testing, support to vulnerable patients, and COVID-19 vaccination. We identified 9 studies conducted in pharmacies in 7 countries in Europe. Most studies are cross-sectional and/or descriptive. Pharmacy associations played an important supporting role by developing and updating guidance and emergency plans to assist community pharmacists. Conclusions: A wide array of pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 was implemented in several countries within a very short time frame. Research on pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 is still in its infancy but confirmed the wide array of interventions provided and expanded powers granted to pharmacies. These findings may provide a significant impact to improve pharmacy research, policy, and practice in response to future public health emergencies in Europe and globally.
AB - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has put community pharmacists at the frontline of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Pharmacies had to reorganize and implement several different interventions and measures within a very short time frame. Objectives: 1) To map the current reported practice and trends and to review the literature on pharmacy-based interventions on COVID-19 provided in Europe; 2) To identify knowledge gaps and future avenues for pharmacy research, policy, and practice in response to public health emergencies. Methods: We used a mixed methods approach combining country mapping of current practices of pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 reported by pharmacy associations in Europe with a scoping review of published literature. Results: We mapped current practices on 31 pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 in 32 countries in Europe. Almost all preventive measures to reduce health risks have been provided in most countries. Other frequent interventions reflected preparedness for stockpiling, increased demand for services and products, and important patient care interventions exceeding dispensing role. Expanded powers granted to pharmacies and legislation passed in view of COVID-19 enabled services that improve access to medicines and relevant products, patient screening and referral including point-of-care antigen testing, support to vulnerable patients, and COVID-19 vaccination. We identified 9 studies conducted in pharmacies in 7 countries in Europe. Most studies are cross-sectional and/or descriptive. Pharmacy associations played an important supporting role by developing and updating guidance and emergency plans to assist community pharmacists. Conclusions: A wide array of pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 was implemented in several countries within a very short time frame. Research on pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 is still in its infancy but confirmed the wide array of interventions provided and expanded powers granted to pharmacies. These findings may provide a significant impact to improve pharmacy research, policy, and practice in response to future public health emergencies in Europe and globally.
KW - Scoping review
KW - Community pharmacy
KW - COVID-19
KW - Pandemic
KW - Public health
KW - Europe
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121391792&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.12.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 34924315
VL - 18
SP - 3338
EP - 3349
JO - Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
JF - Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
SN - 1551-7411
IS - 8
ER -