Feras Jirjees, Mohanad Odeh, Lynn Aloum, Zelal Kharaba, Karem H Alzoubi, Hala J Al-Obaidi
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引用次数: 8
Abstract
Objective: The study aimed to explore changes in community pharmacies' processes in response to the pandemic in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and factors affecting the adoption of these changes.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to licensed community pharmacists in the UAE. The survey used to collect information on the type of telepharmacy services and related topics such as constraints and supports. The evaluation of services was done for three periods: before, during and after lockdown.
Results: The number of completed surveys was 391. The majority of the participants were under 35 years old (79.5%), female (65.0%), with a bachelor's degree (82.6%), and working in a pharmacy group (70.6%). Pharmacies provided the services by phone (95.6%) and/or messaging applications (80.0%) such as WhatsApp and Messenger. The community pharmacies provided a variety of services using telepharmacy tools such as managing of mild diseases, dispensing and delivering prescribed and OTC medications, general health information, and services for patients with chronic disease. The main factors that had significant effects on several telepharmacy services were pharmacies' type (group/chain vs. individual) and the number of pharmacists in the pharmacy (p < 0.05). Lack of time, training and financial support were the main barriers associated with telepharmacy services among individual pharmacies.
Conclusion: Telepharmacy supported the work of community pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic by facilitating the provision of pharmaceutical services. Although the occurrence of several financial and technical problems, it appeared less frequently in pharmacy chains with a large number of pharmacists.
期刊介绍：
Pharmacy Practice is a free full-text peer-reviewed journal with a scope on pharmacy practice. Pharmacy Practice is published quarterly. Pharmacy Practice does not charge and will never charge any publication fee or article processing charge (APC) to the authors. The current and future absence of any article processing charges (APCs) is signed in the MoU with the Center for Pharmacy Practice Innovation (CPPI) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Pharmacy. Pharmacy Practice is the consequence of the efforts of a number of colleagues from different Universities who belief in collaborative publishing: no one pays, no one receives. Although focusing on the practice of pharmacy, Pharmacy Practice covers a wide range of pharmacy activities, among them and not being comprehensive, clinical pharmacy, pharmaceutical care, social pharmacy, pharmacy education, process and outcome research, health promotion and education, health informatics, pharmacoepidemiology, etc.
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