The COVID-19 pandemic exerted a profound impact on health systems worldwide. Moreover, significant concerns were raised in terms of middle- and long-term consequences of postponing care in non-COVID patients. The primary aim of the study was to describe the remote pharmaceutical care service (telepharmacy) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina. The secondary aim was to identify service users’ needs and concerns and to describe community pharmacists’ interventions. Ten community pharmacists were appointed by the Pharmaceutical Society of the RS to deliver telepharmacy services. After obtaining users’ verbal permission, pharmacists documented issues discussed with them. The prospective data collection included the period from April 13 to May 21, 2020. Descriptive and statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software (ver. 22). A total of 71 service users’ charts were analyzed. Telepharmacy users were on average 61.31 ± 13....27 years of age, with almost equal gender distribution. Patients with chronic or acute/subacute conditions were predominant with a share of 84.5%. Chronic diseases were the main reason for searching pharmacists’ consultation (74.6%), 7% had a complaint about worsening of a chronic condition, 9.9% reported only acute/subacute conditions as ambulatory conditions, whereas 15.5% asked information about coronavirus or COVID-19. The vast majority of patients’ and users’ needs were addressed by a pharmacist during counseling and only 15.5% of the patients required immediate referral to a doctor for refill/prescribing purposes. Remote pharmaceutical care service (telepharmacy) is deemed a convenient model in the RS during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and users presented with explicit and specific needs and concerns, both COVID- and non-COVID-related, which should not be neglected. Community pharmacists showed a high level of resilience and ability in addressing patients' needs.
Keywords:
COVID-19 / community pharmacy / pharmaceutical care / pharmacist / public health / telehealth
Source:
Health and Social Care in the Community, 2022, 30, 5, e1639-e1650
TY - JOUR
AU - Kovačević, Milena
AU - Ćulafić, Milica
AU - Vezmar-Kovačević, Sandra
AU - Borjanić, Slavenka
AU - Keleč, Branka
AU - Miljković, Branislava
AU - Amidžić, Rada
PY - 2022
UR - https://farfar.pharmacy.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3973
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic exerted a profound impact on health systems worldwide. Moreover, significant concerns were raised in terms of middle- and long-term consequences of postponing care in non-COVID patients. The primary aim of the study was to describe the remote pharmaceutical care service (telepharmacy) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina. The secondary aim was to identify service users’ needs and concerns and to describe community pharmacists’ interventions. Ten community pharmacists were appointed by the Pharmaceutical Society of the RS to deliver telepharmacy services. After obtaining users’ verbal permission, pharmacists documented issues discussed with them. The prospective data collection included the period from April 13 to May 21, 2020. Descriptive and statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software (ver. 22). A total of 71 service users’ charts were analyzed. Telepharmacy users were on average 61.31 ± 13.27 years of age, with almost equal gender distribution. Patients with chronic or acute/subacute conditions were predominant with a share of 84.5%. Chronic diseases were the main reason for searching pharmacists’ consultation (74.6%), 7% had a complaint about worsening of a chronic condition, 9.9% reported only acute/subacute conditions as ambulatory conditions, whereas 15.5% asked information about coronavirus or COVID-19. The vast majority of patients’ and users’ needs were addressed by a pharmacist during counseling and only 15.5% of the patients required immediate referral to a doctor for refill/prescribing purposes. Remote pharmaceutical care service (telepharmacy) is deemed a convenient model in the RS during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and users presented with explicit and specific needs and concerns, both COVID- and non-COVID-related, which should not be neglected. Community pharmacists showed a high level of resilience and ability in addressing patients' needs.
PB - John Wiley and Sons Inc
T2 - Health and Social Care in the Community
T1 - Telepharmacy service experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
VL - 30
IS - 5
SP - e1639
EP - e1650
DO - 10.1111/hsc.13590
ER -
@article{
author = "Kovačević, Milena and Ćulafić, Milica and Vezmar-Kovačević, Sandra and Borjanić, Slavenka and Keleč, Branka and Miljković, Branislava and Amidžić, Rada",
year = "2022",
abstract = "The COVID-19 pandemic exerted a profound impact on health systems worldwide. Moreover, significant concerns were raised in terms of middle- and long-term consequences of postponing care in non-COVID patients. The primary aim of the study was to describe the remote pharmaceutical care service (telepharmacy) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina. The secondary aim was to identify service users’ needs and concerns and to describe community pharmacists’ interventions. Ten community pharmacists were appointed by the Pharmaceutical Society of the RS to deliver telepharmacy services. After obtaining users’ verbal permission, pharmacists documented issues discussed with them. The prospective data collection included the period from April 13 to May 21, 2020. Descriptive and statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software (ver. 22). A total of 71 service users’ charts were analyzed. Telepharmacy users were on average 61.31 ± 13.27 years of age, with almost equal gender distribution. Patients with chronic or acute/subacute conditions were predominant with a share of 84.5%. Chronic diseases were the main reason for searching pharmacists’ consultation (74.6%), 7% had a complaint about worsening of a chronic condition, 9.9% reported only acute/subacute conditions as ambulatory conditions, whereas 15.5% asked information about coronavirus or COVID-19. The vast majority of patients’ and users’ needs were addressed by a pharmacist during counseling and only 15.5% of the patients required immediate referral to a doctor for refill/prescribing purposes. Remote pharmaceutical care service (telepharmacy) is deemed a convenient model in the RS during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and users presented with explicit and specific needs and concerns, both COVID- and non-COVID-related, which should not be neglected. Community pharmacists showed a high level of resilience and ability in addressing patients' needs.",
publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc",
journal = "Health and Social Care in the Community",
title = "Telepharmacy service experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina",
volume = "30",
number = "5",
pages = "e1639-e1650",
doi = "10.1111/hsc.13590"
}
Kovačević, M., Ćulafić, M., Vezmar-Kovačević, S., Borjanić, S., Keleč, B., Miljković, B.,& Amidžić, R.. (2022). Telepharmacy service experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. in Health and Social Care in the Community
John Wiley and Sons Inc., 30(5), e1639-e1650.
https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13590
Kovačević M, Ćulafić M, Vezmar-Kovačević S, Borjanić S, Keleč B, Miljković B, Amidžić R. Telepharmacy service experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. in Health and Social Care in the Community. 2022;30(5):e1639-e1650.
doi:10.1111/hsc.13590 .
Kovačević, Milena, Ćulafić, Milica, Vezmar-Kovačević, Sandra, Borjanić, Slavenka, Keleč, Branka, Miljković, Branislava, Amidžić, Rada, "Telepharmacy service experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina" in Health and Social Care in the Community, 30, no. 5 (2022):e1639-e1650,
https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13590 . .
