Management of human resources of a pharmacy department during the COVID-19 pandemic: Take-aways from the first wave

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the biggest public health threat the world has seen in many years and poses new challenges and opportunities to healthcare systems. The new reality imposed by the pandemic requires a modification of practices to ensure the health and safety of patients and medical teams. The purpose of this article is to share the experiences of the pharmacy department of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven of the most important issues will be addressed: crisis management, internal communications, employee stress, reorganisation of workspaces, reorganisation of pharmacist workforce, telework and schedule management. Some of the changes made in human resources deployment will likely remain even post-pandemic.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Human resources; Management; Pharmacy department.

Fig. 1

Number of validated prescriptions on weekday between 2018 and 2020.

Fig. 2

Admission and occupied beds before, during and after the first wave.

Fig. 3

Comparison of the number of new prescriptions validated by the pharmacist at the hospital (centralized) versus teleworking.

Fig. 4

Comparison of the number of new prescriptions validated by the pharmacist at the hospital (decentralized at the emergency) versus teleworking.