Barriers to Community Pharmacists Referring Patients With Suspected COVID-19 Symptoms
Background: With the necessary skills available to community pharmacists, they are well equipped to relieve pressure on hospitals and general practices by providing referral services for symptomatic patients for COVID-19 testing. Objective: The assessment of potential barriers that limit the successful implementation of a community pharmacy referral service for patients with suspected COVID-19 symptoms. Methods: A questionnaire comprising of 100 questions was administered to one pharmacist by interview in 1023 working community pharmacies in 4 regions of Egypt between May 17 and May 30th 2020. Results: Forty-five barriers were identified. Respondents (79%, n = 803) had difficulty obtaining an accurate patient history. Patient data confidentiality was a significant issue for pharmacists who had not received referral training, with these respondents being significantly (P = .010) less able to differentiate between COVID-19 and similar conditions. Respondents (68.8%, n = 698) were not confident in determining whether COVID-19 was the cause of the patient's presenting symptoms. A large majority (73.7%, n = 747) of respondents were worried about referring misdiagnosed patients and were concerned about the negative implications of proceeding with such a referral, including legal consequences. Of Respondents (71.7%, n = 727) reported that online referral was not easy, and 71.6% (n = 722) were unable to locate paper referral forms. Only a small number of pharmacists (11%, n = 112) preferred to report a referral in their own name. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated the potential of the community pharmacist's role as a point of referral for COVID-19 testing, and identified some major barriers to implementation of this. The lack of pharmacists' education, legal support, availability of referral forms, clarity of responsibility and unsupportive management teams are key obstacles that must be overcome for the successful implementation of a COVID-19 referral service.
| Medienart: |
E-Artikel |
|---|
| Erscheinungsjahr: |
2023 |
|---|---|
| Erschienen: |
2023 |
| Enthalten in: |
Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:36 |
|---|---|
| Enthalten in: |
Journal of pharmacy practice - 36(2023), 4 vom: 25. Aug., Seite 783-794 |
| Sprache: |
Englisch |
|---|
| Beteiligte Personen: |
Bahlol, Mohamed [VerfasserIn] |
|---|
| Links: |
|---|
| Themen: |
COVID-19 diagnostic testing |
|---|
| Anmerkungen: |
Date Completed 17.07.2023 Date Revised 18.07.2023 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
|---|
| doi: |
10.1177/08971900221074952 |
|---|
| funding: |
|
|---|---|
| Förderinstitution / Projekttitel: |
|
| PPN (Katalog-ID): |
NLM338613374 |
|---|
| LEADER | 01000naa a22002652 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | NLM338613374 | ||
| 003 | DE-627 | ||
| 005 | 20231226001051.0 | ||
| 007 | cr uuu---uuuuu | ||
| 008 | 231226s2023 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c | ||
| 024 | 7 | |a 10.1177/08971900221074952 |2 doi | |
| 028 | 5 | 2 | |a pubmed24n1128.xml |
| 035 | |a (DE-627)NLM338613374 | ||
| 035 | |a (NLM)35331048 | ||
| 040 | |a DE-627 |b ger |c DE-627 |e rakwb | ||
| 041 | |a eng | ||
| 100 | 1 | |a Bahlol, Mohamed |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Barriers to Community Pharmacists Referring Patients With Suspected COVID-19 Symptoms |
| 264 | 1 | |c 2023 | |
| 336 | |a Text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a ƒaComputermedien |b c |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a ƒa Online-Ressource |b cr |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 500 | |a Date Completed 17.07.2023 | ||
| 500 | |a Date Revised 18.07.2023 | ||
| 500 | |a published: Print-Electronic | ||
| 500 | |a Citation Status MEDLINE | ||
| 520 | |a Background: With the necessary skills available to community pharmacists, they are well equipped to relieve pressure on hospitals and general practices by providing referral services for symptomatic patients for COVID-19 testing. Objective: The assessment of potential barriers that limit the successful implementation of a community pharmacy referral service for patients with suspected COVID-19 symptoms. Methods: A questionnaire comprising of 100 questions was administered to one pharmacist by interview in 1023 working community pharmacies in 4 regions of Egypt between May 17 and May 30th 2020. Results: Forty-five barriers were identified. Respondents (79%, n = 803) had difficulty obtaining an accurate patient history. Patient data confidentiality was a significant issue for pharmacists who had not received referral training, with these respondents being significantly (P = .010) less able to differentiate between COVID-19 and similar conditions. Respondents (68.8%, n = 698) were not confident in determining whether COVID-19 was the cause of the patient's presenting symptoms. A large majority (73.7%, n = 747) of respondents were worried about referring misdiagnosed patients and were concerned about the negative implications of proceeding with such a referral, including legal consequences. Of Respondents (71.7%, n = 727) reported that online referral was not easy, and 71.6% (n = 722) were unable to locate paper referral forms. Only a small number of pharmacists (11%, n = 112) preferred to report a referral in their own name. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated the potential of the community pharmacist's role as a point of referral for COVID-19 testing, and identified some major barriers to implementation of this. The lack of pharmacists' education, legal support, availability of referral forms, clarity of responsibility and unsupportive management teams are key obstacles that must be overcome for the successful implementation of a COVID-19 referral service | ||
| 650 | 4 | |a Journal Article | |
| 650 | 4 | |a COVID-19 diagnostic testing | |
| 650 | 4 | |a community pharmacists | |
| 650 | 4 | |a referral and consultation | |
| 650 | 4 | |a surveys and questionnaires | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Sum, Zachary Z |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Dewey, Rebecca Susan |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 773 | 0 | 8 | |i Enthalten in |t Journal of pharmacy practice |d 1996 |g 36(2023), 4 vom: 25. Aug., Seite 783-794 |w (DE-627)NLM088682471 |x 1531-1937 |7 nnns |
| 773 | 1 | 8 | |g volume:36 |g year:2023 |g number:4 |g day:25 |g month:08 |g pages:783-794 |
| 856 | 4 | 0 | |u http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08971900221074952 |3 Volltext |
| 912 | |a GBV_USEFLAG_A | ||
| 912 | |a GBV_NLM | ||
| 951 | |a AR | ||
| 952 | |d 36 |j 2023 |e 4 |b 25 |c 08 |h 783-794 | ||