Gicic Amin, Li Shiyi, Amini Shabnam, Sim Tin Fei, White Christianne, Sunderland Bruce, Czarniak Petra
Curtin Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Bentley, Australia.
School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia.
Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm. 2022 Jun;6:100145. doi: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2022.100145. Epub 2022 May 18.
COVID-19 caused Australian government and state legislative/regulatory changes which impacted directly on aspects of professional community pharmacy.
To examine the views and experiences of community pharmacists regarding the impact of COVID-19 on professional pharmacy services in Western Australian community pharmacies.
A Qualtrics questionnaire link was emailed to all 668 community pharmacies in Western Australia in March 2021. Data were collected on the impact of COVID-19 on professional pharmacy services (telehealth, digital image prescriptions, continued dispensing and emergency supply, home delivery services, medicine and medical resource substitutions), the pharmacy environment (work hours) and professional pharmacy structure (staffing and any measures implemented). Questions included 5-point Likert responses as well as yes/no or option responses. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise questionnaire responses. Chi Squared analysis was used to investigate differences between metropolitan and rural community pharmacies.
The response rate was 97/668 (14.5%). Many pharmacies belonged to banner groups (47/95; 40.5%). Use of telehealth was reported (25/96; 26.0%), most commonly for MedsChecks. Many received digital image prescriptions (83/88; 94.3%) and continued dispensing, emergency supply requests, or both (78/84; 92.9%) daily. For home deliveries, most used pharmacy staff (56/78; 71.8%). Shortages were reported for many medicines. Panic buying/stock-piling and the media contributed to increased panic and shortages. Little change occurred in trading hours although many reported increased workloads (67/75; 89.3%).
Covid-19 has fast-tracked digitisation in Western Australian community pharmacies. This change is likely similar in other parts of Australia. This was facilitated through the expedition of regulatory changes to enable digital health. Whilst electronic prescribing has progressed, telehealth in pharmacy remained underutilised. The pandemic has contributed to pronounced medicine and medical resources shortages, which increased the workloads and pressure of community pharmacists. Pharmacists were confronted with a lot of legislative change in a short period of time. There is a need for clear and concise communication from all levels of government in future pandemics.
新冠疫情导致澳大利亚政府及州立法/监管发生变化，这直接影响了社区专业药房的多个方面。
调查西澳大利亚州社区药房药剂师对新冠疫情对专业药房服务影响的看法和经历。
2021年3月，通过电子邮件将Qualtrics调查问卷链接发送给西澳大利亚州所有668家社区药房。收集了关于新冠疫情对专业药房服务（远程医疗、数字图像处方、持续配药和紧急供应、送货上门服务、药品和医疗资源替代）、药房环境（工作时间）和专业药房结构（人员配备及实施的任何措施）影响的数据。问题包括5级李克特量表回答以及是/否或选项回答。描述性统计用于总结调查问卷的回复。卡方分析用于调查城市和农村社区药房之间的差异。
回复率为97/668（14.5%）。许多药房属于连锁集团（47/95；40.5%）。报告了远程医疗的使用情况（25/96；26.0%），最常用于药物审查。许多药房每天都收到数字图像处方（83/88；94.3%）以及持续配药、紧急供应请求或两者皆有（78/84；92.9%）。对于送货上门服务，大多数使用药房工作人员（56/78；71.8%）。报告了多种药品短缺。恐慌性购买/囤货以及媒体加剧了恐慌和短缺。营业时间变化不大，尽管许多药房报告工作量增加（67/75；89.3%）。
新冠疫情加速了西澳大利亚州社区药房的数字化进程。澳大利亚其他地区可能也有类似变化。这是通过加快监管变革以实现数字健康而促成的。虽然电子处方取得了进展，但药房的远程医疗仍未得到充分利用。疫情导致药品和医疗资源严重短缺，增加了社区药剂师的工作量和压力。药剂师在短时间内面临诸多立法变化。未来疫情期间，各级政府需要进行清晰简洁的沟通。
