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. 2022 Oct;47(10):1591-1599.
doi: 10.1111/jcpt.13709. Epub 2022 Jun 14.

Critical care tele-pharmacy services during COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative exploration of healthcare practitioners' perceptions

Nour Isleem  1 , Sadim Shoshaa  2 , Ahmad AbuGhalyoun  2 , Mohamad Khatib  3 , Lina Mohammad Naseralallah  1   4 , Mohammed Ibn-Mas'ud Danjuma  5   6   7 , Mohamed Saad  1
Affiliations

Critical care tele-pharmacy services during COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative exploration of healthcare practitioners' perceptions

Nour Isleem et al. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

What is known and objective: The scope of clinical pharmacy services has changed during COVID-19 pandemic with the view to mitigating both exposure and spread of the virus. The performance of novel pandemic-driven services such as tele-pharmacy has remained unexplored, until now. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of healthcare providers of the impact of tele-pharmacy services provided in critical care units during COVID-19.

Methods: A qualitative study of semi-structured interviews conducted with healthcare practitioners who worked in COVID-19 intensive care units and remotely interacted with clinical pharmacists at the Weill Cornell-affiliated Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. Random sampling technique was employed to recruit participants, with the resultant interview guide piloted before commencement of data collection process.

Results and discussion: From a total 129 and 200 physicians and nurses, respectively, 20 interviews were conducted with physicians (n = 15), and nurses (n = 5). From these interactions, a number of major themes emerged including: satisfactory understanding across clinical environment and personnel (physician and nurses) about remote clinical pharmacists' roles; additional robust feedback on the perception of the remote clinical pharmacy service; an understanding by 'frontline' health personnel on the discernible differences between remote and in-person coverage of clinical pharmacists; a reflection by both physicians and nurses on the novel challenges involved in the implementation of such pandemic-driven service; and solutions to overcome these challenges.

What is new and conclusion: In this novel qualitative study of pandemic-driven tele-pharmacy service, we found a positive perception amongst healthcare practitioners towards this service; with residual challenges that will need further evaluation by large sampled sized surveys or mixed methods research.

Keywords: COVID-19; clinical pharmacy; intensive care unit; qualitative; tele-pharmacy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The study authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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