Community pharmacists' preparedness and responses to COVID-19 pandemic: A multinational study

Abstract

Background: Community pharmacists play a pivotal role in healthcare worldwide. Their role became more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to investigate the community pharmacists' preparedness and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and how efficiently they were prepared to contain and prevent the spread of infection. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to community pharmacists in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan through social media platforms. A scoring system was developed to measure their level of adherence to the preventive measures of the global infection. Results: The total included responses were 800. Around 44% of the pharmacists reported spending less than 15 min/d reading about COVID-19 updates. Although more than half of them were reviewing official sites, 73% of them were also retrieving information through non-official channels. Additionally, almost 35% of them were directly contacting customers without physical barriers, 81% reported encountering infected customers, and 12% wore the same facial masks for more than a day. Moreover, 58% of the pharmacies reported the absence of door signs requesting infected customers to declare the infection, 43% of the pharmacies were not limiting the number of simultaneous customers, and 70% were not measuring customers' temperatures prior to entry. Collectively, the mean total score of applied protective measures was 10.12 ± 2.77 (out of 17). Conclusion: The level of preparedness of the community pharmacies in these three Middle Eastern countries was not adequate for facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Health authorities in these countries should closely monitor their adherence to the protective guidelines.