Implementation and evaluation of telepharmacy during COVID-19 pandemic in an academic medical city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: paving the way for telepharmacy

Abstract

King Fahad University Hospital, a leading public healthcare institution in the Eastern region of KSA, implemented a disruptive innovation of Telepharmacy in pursuit of compliance with the National COVID-19 Response Framework. It emerged and proved to be an essential and critical pillar in suppression and mitigation strategies. Telepharmacy innovation resulted in Pharmacy staffing protection and provided uninterrupted access and care continuum to the pharmaceutical services, both for COVID-19 and Collateral care. This reform-oriented initiative culminated in adopting engineering and administrative controls to design the workflows, practices, and interactions between healthcare providers, patients, and pharmaceutical frontline staff. Pharmaceutical services enhanced its surge capacity (14,618 OPD requests & 10,030 Inpatient orders) and improved capability (41,242 counseling sessions) to address the daunting challenge of complying with the inpatient needs and robust outpatient pharmaceutical consumer services. Pharmacy services established a harmonious momentum between spatial and temporal consumers amidst the peak of the pandemic, where footfalls, air gaps, physical proximity and use of crisis standard of care was an institutional priority and national obligation. This powerful tool of Telepharmacy significantly had an impact on the technical efficiency and healthcare system's effectiveness on resource utilization in this newly adopted institutional pandemic response model. Core determinants of safe, integrated medication management use were protected by using e-tools and vehicles such as WhatsApp, webpage portals, and applications along with express shipping couriers.