Pharmacists' roles in emergency and disasters: COVID-19 as an example

Exploring Volunteer Pharmacists' Experiences in Responding to 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

OBJECTIVE

Pharmacists are vital in disaster response efforts, dispensing essential medications, managing pharmacy services, consulting, and educating survivors regarding their medications. Their contributions, however, are often underrepresented in scientific literature. This study aimed to explore the experiences of pharmacists who provided pharmacy services to meet the pharmaceutical needs of the survivors after 2 major earthquakes in Türkiye in 2023.

METHODS

This study adopted a phenomenological approach. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was used to invite pharmacists who provided pharmacy services to survivors. Interview transcripts were analyzed following an inductive, reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 15 pharmacists were interviewed. Four main overarching themes "response to the earthquake," "preparedness for the earthquake," "experiences during service delivery," and "mental and physical experiences" were developed.

CONCLUSIONS

From participants' experiences, it is essential to expand the clinical responsibilities of pharmacists and train them in providing wound care, administering immunization, and prescribing. Pharmacists should be integrated as essential members of disaster health teams. International health organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are encouraged to work collaboratively and develop disaster management plans including pharmacists in early responders. This might help mitigate the deficiencies and overcome challenges in health-care systems to provide effective patient-centered care by health professionals and respond effectively to disasters.

Development of a Pharmacy Point-of-Dispensing Toolkit for Anthrax Post-Exposure Prophylaxis for Allegheny County Postal Workers

CONTEXT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Postal Service (USPS) consider anthrax to be a potential threat to USPS workers. A county health department-owned pharmacy supports local USPS response in the event of an exposure. The pharmacy team identified the need to review and update the local anthrax response plan.

PROGRAM/POLICY

A Pharmacy Point-of-Dispensing Toolkit and response plan for initial 10-day post-exposure antibiotic prophylaxis was developed for use by a local health department in the event of a mass anthrax exposure at a US Post Office sorting facility. The pharmacist's role in medical countermeasures planning for anthrax exposure is also discussed to illustrate how pharmacists' medication expertise can be utilized.

EVALUATION

The CDC's Public Health Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards for State and Local Planning framework and inputs from an interprofessional stakeholder team were used to develop a Medical Countermeasures Response Plan and Implementation Toolkit for mass point-of-dispensing (POD) in the event of an anthrax exposure.

IMPLEMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION

Stakeholders attended a USPS Community Partner Training event where additional revisions to the toolkit were made. The toolkit and standing order are now implemented at the local health department to be reviewed and updated on a yearly basis by health department leadership.

DISCUSSION

Pharmacists can use their medication expertise and experience with patient education to design emergency response plans focused on increasing patient safety and medication adherence. Pharmacists should be involved in emergency response and medical countermeasures planning that involve medications.

A photovoice study on community pharmacists' roles and lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Community pharmacists were the face of the health response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Their pivotal role during the pandemic has been widely recognized, as they adapted to continue to provide a higher level of care to their patients.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of frontline pharmacists' lived experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their roles.

METHODS

Photovoice, a visual research method that uses participant-generated photographs to articulate their experiences, was used with semi-structured interviews to explore pharmacists' lived experiences. Frontline community pharmacists who provided direct patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, Canada were recruited. Participants were asked to provide 3-5 photos that reflected on how they see themselves as a pharmacist and/or represents what they do as a pharmacist. Data analysis incorporated content, thematic and visual analysis and was facilitated using NVivo software. A published conceptual framework model was used as the foundation of the analysis with care taken to include new concepts. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Alberta health research ethics board.

RESULTS

Interviews were conducted with 21 participants and they 71 photos. This study advanced the conceptual framework model presented in a scoping review, of what was made visible (pharmacists' information, public health, and medication management roles) and what was invisible but made visible by the pandemic (pharmacists' leadership roles). It was revealed through the reflective nature of this study the important leadership role pharmacists have in their communities.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlighted the work of community pharmacists responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through their information, public health, medication management, and leadership roles. Their experiences also made visible the cost their work had on them as they did more to adapt and continually respond as the pandemic evolved. Pharmacists recognized their role as leaders in their practice and communities.

Rapid implementation of telepharmacy service to improve patient-centric care and multidisciplinary collaboration across hospitals in a COVID era: A cross-sectional qualitative study

Background and Aim

The COVID‐19 pandemic forced healthcare systems to apply new technology‐based solutions. The main objective of our study was to describe the conceptual model for rapid implementation of telepharmacy service and the main steps that should be considered.

Method

In response to a limited number of on‐site clinical pharmacy specialists and a lack of technology infrastructure, a cross‐sectional telepharmacy program was established to support major teaching hospitals. A store and forward model of teleconsultation was employed using WhatsApp messenger to cover various aspects of multidisciplinary collaboration in COVID‐19 management. All identifiable personal information was removed from all exchanged messages of collaborative consultations. The thematic analysis of consultations was performed to extract the main themes and subthemes that should be considered for designing future telepharmacy systems.

Results

Through telepharmacy service, 600 intensive care unit teleconsultations for COVID‐19 cases were conducted in the residence center and nonresidence centers. In total, 1200 messages were exchanged between specialists in 3 months. The average time taken to respond to a message was 1.30 h. Thematic analysis revealed four main concepts and 15 subconcepts that should be considered in telepharmacy consultations for COVID‐19 management. Based on the extracted themes, a conceptual model for developing a telepharmacy program was devised.

Conclusion

The results showed that by utilizing telehealth, clinical pharmacists could cover critically ill patients who need pharmacotherapy counseling through interdisciplinary collaboration. Moreover, the main features of our service that are represented through this survey can be employed by other researchers for developing telepharmacy services.

Emergency Preparedness for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Determinants Predicting the Community Pharmacists’ Preparedness and Perceived Response in Malaysia

Background: Pandemic preparedness of healthcare providers helps to mitigate future threats such as spread and fatality rates, as well as the management of the disease. Pharmacists are key partners with public health agencies, and the role of community pharmacists is becoming increasingly recognised in this COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to explore the emergency preparedness of community pharmacists (CPs) for COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among community pharmacists using cluster sampling followed by convenient sampling. A self-administered questionnaire was formulated using references from the previous literature and the WHO preparedness checklist. Descriptive analysis was undertaken for the participants’ socio-demographic characteristics. All the data collected were entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24 (SPSS V.24), (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) for analysis. Results: Most of the CPs had five or fewer years of practice experience, and they had all the mandatory information relating to the needs of their communities regarding the disease. The participants knew where to acquire these resources whenever needed. They were able to recognise the signs and symptoms of the disease. Most participants felt that they were confident to provide patient education and carry out their duties during these challenging times. There was a strong position correlation between preparedness and the perceived response of the participants. Conclusion: The community pharmacists in Malaysia are prepared enough for COVID-19 pandemic management and perceive that they can respond during any unprecedented situations, such as COVID-19. Community pharmacists were aware of the challenges that they need to face in their community regarding COVID-19.

The nature of conflict in community pharmacy - A pilot study of pharmacists' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes that disrupted the status quo of society. As a result, the level of conflict in community pharmacy has increased significantly. With existing conflict research more focused on the management of conflict, it is important to direct attention towards understanding the nature of conflict. This understanding will allow for informed resources to be developed to guide practice, decreasing the occurrence of and negative effects of conflict.

OBJECTIVE

This research explored experiences of pharmacists working in community pharmacies, to identify the occurrence and nature of conflicts which may have been motivated by changes resulting directly or indirectly from the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide directions for future research into the nature of conflict.

METHOD

Person-to-person semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Transcripts were analysed using inductive reasoning to identify themes.

RESULTS

Thirteen pharmacists agreed to participate in this study and 9 were interviewed. Analysis revealed 7 themes that described the causes, contributors, management, outcome, and essence of experienced conflict. A model that incorporated existing theory and themes derived from this study was developed to facilitate understanding of the nature of conflict in community pharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CONCLUSION

Conflict in community pharmacy settings follows a defined model with multiple interrelated themes. Guidance from this model may assist pharmacists in reducing occurrences of dysfunctional conflicts during their practice.

Assessing the pharmaceutical care provision to suspected COVID-19 patients in community pharmacies: a simulated patient study

BACKGROUND

In the wake of COVID-19, community pharmacists (CP) were called upon to free up healthcare providers to treat more serious conditions and alleviate overcrowded healthcare centers. CPs were placed under tremendous pressure, where many patients primarily sought their health advice. This situation raised concerns about the preparedness of CPs in facing these challenges. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the appropriateness of pharmaceutical care provided by CPs to patients with suspected COVID-19 and to investigate their communication skills.

METHODS

A simulated patient (SP) study was conducted among randomly selected community pharmacies in Beirut, Lebanon. Each pharmacy was visited by the SP who complained of fever and loss of smell sensation. Interactions between the attending pharmacist and the suspected COVID-19 patient were documented directly after each visit in a standardized data collection form.

RESULTS

More than half of the CPs (56%) did not retrieve any relevant information to assess the patient's condition. While pharmacists' responses were limited to one to two recommendations, with the majority recommending the patient to perform the PCR test (90%). Inappropriate recommendations made by the CPs included mainly the confirmation that the patient had COVID-19 without prior testing (9%), and prescribing either an antimicrobial drug (5%) or dietary supplements (20%), claiming that the latter are essential to boost the patient's immunity. As for the pharmacist-patient communication skills, the mean total score was 2.25 ± 0.79 (out of 4), displaying nonoptimal and ineffective communication.

CONCLUSION

An unsatisfactory and suboptimal provision of pharmaceutical care to a suspected COVID-19 case was evident. This may be a public health threat, particularly for developing countries that lack an efficient and unified healthcare system. The findings should alert health authorities to support and guide community pharmacists in assisting suspected COVID-19 patients.

A fuzzy hybrid decision-making framework for increasing the hospital disaster preparedness: The colombian case

The recent increase in the number of disasters over the world has once again brought to the agenda the question of preparedness of the hospitals, which are the most necessary units of healthcare pillar to resist these disasters. The COVID-19 epidemic disease, which has affected the whole world, has caused a large number of people to die in some countries simply because of the inadequate and incomplete planning and lack of readiness of hospitals. For this reason, determining the disaster preparedness level of hospitals is an important issue that needs to be studied and it is important in terms of disaster damage reduction. In this study, a fuzzy hybrid decision-making framework is proposed to assess hospital disaster preparedness. The framework covers three important decision-making methods. For the first phase, Intuitionistic Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (IF-AHP) is used to assign relative weights for several disaster preparedness criteria considering uncertainty. Secondly, Intuitionistic Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (IF-DEMATEL) is applied to identify interrelations among these criteria and feedback. Finally, via the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method, priorities of hospitals regarding disaster readiness are obtained. A case study involving the participation of 10 Colombian tertiary hospitals is carried out to show the applicability of this fuzzy hybrid approach.

Impact of COVID-19 health information sources on student vaccine hesitancy

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to determine how health care professional and undergraduate students stay informed on COVID-19 and which characteristics influence the decision to receive or recommend a vaccine to focus efforts on addressing misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.

METHODS

A 13-item survey was administered to currently enrolled undergraduate and health care students (including nursing, dental, medical, and pharmacy) within the same university. Students were asked to rate their utilization and trust of COVID-19 resources and were asked about the importance and challenges of staying current with COVID-19 information. Student willingness to receive the vaccine was also assessed.

RESULTS

The school of pharmacy had the highest percentage of students (88.3%, n = 159) who would receive the vaccine. Only 73.6% (n = 323) of undergraduate students reported they would be willing. Students who were willing to receive the vaccine had higher average scores of trust for scientific journals, school curriculum/coursework, and school communication and utilized these sources for COVID-19 information more than those who would not receive the vaccine and were unsure about receiving the vaccine.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms that students who were most trusting of their COVID-19 information sources were more likely to receive the vaccine. Pharmacy students relied heavily on information provided by the school curriculum/coursework, indicating the need for pharmacy faculty to include methods of addressing vaccine hesitancy such as simulation modules and the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process to help students combat vaccine hesitancy and misinformation when communicating with patients.

Extended Prescribing Roles for Pharmacists in Poland-A Survey Study

Background: In recent years, a systematic increase in the role and powers of pharmacists has been observed. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that this is a professional group that is extremely necessary for the smooth functioning of the health care system. One of the important powers of pharmacists is the possibility of issuing prescriptions for both patients in the pharmacy and for themselves and their family members. Polish pharmacists obtained extended entitlements in this field in March 2020. Due to the extension of pharmacists’ prescribing rights in Poland, it was decided in this study to determine the current practice of pharmaceutical prescribing, and pharmacists’ views on their new duties. Methods: The study used the method of a questionnaire, which was distributed to all pharmacists actively working in Poland. During the study, 309 completed questionnaires were obtained that gathered information about prescriptions written by pharmacists, as well as their opinions related to this entitlement. The results of the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Out of all authorized pharmacists, 75.62% use the new, extended authorization to issue pharmaceutical prescriptions. About half of them believe their prescriptions should be refundable. Only 11.52% of respondents do not use the entitlement to issue prescriptions for themselves or their family members. In addition, it was noticed that those who write such prescriptions most often use the fully paid version. Conclusions: Polish pharmacists use the new entitlements willingly but carefully. The legal provisions governing electronic prescription should be clearer. In addition, the idea of continued prescription should be developed as this is the most common reason that pharmacists issue prescriptions.

Pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 in Europe: Mapping current practices and a scoping review

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has put community pharmacists at the frontline of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Pharmacies had to reorganize and implement several different interventions and measures within a very short time frame.

Objectives

1) To map the current reported practice and trends and to review the literature on pharmacy-based interventions on COVID-19 provided in Europe; 2) To identify knowledge gaps and future avenues for pharmacy research, policy, and practice in response to public health emergencies.

Methods

We used a mixed methods approach combining country mapping of current practices of pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 reported by pharmacy associations in Europe with a scoping review of published literature.

Results

We mapped current practices on 31 pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 in 32 countries in Europe. Almost all preventive measures to reduce health risks have been provided in most countries. Other frequent interventions reflected preparedness for stockpiling, increased demand for services and products, and important patient care interventions exceeding dispensing role. Expanded powers granted to pharmacies and legislation passed in view of COVID-19 enabled services that improve access to medicines and relevant products, patient screening and referral including point-of-care antigen testing, support to vulnerable patients, and COVID-19 vaccination. We identified 9 studies conducted in pharmacies in 7 countries in Europe. Most studies are cross-sectional and/or descriptive. Pharmacy associations played an important supporting role by developing and updating guidance and emergency plans to assist community pharmacists.

Conclusions

A wide array of pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 was implemented in several countries within a very short time frame. Research on pharmacy interventions on COVID-19 is still in its infancy but confirmed the wide array of interventions provided and expanded powers granted to pharmacies. These findings may provide a significant impact to improve pharmacy research, policy, and practice in response to future public health emergencies in Europe and globally.

Addressing critical success factors for improving concurrent emergency management: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

The world is witnessing a difficult time trying to circumscribe the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The situation has become even more challenging as several natural disasters and emergencies coincided with this pandemic and created a situation of concurrent emergency. Effectively managing concurrent emergencies are extremely challenging. Only by utilizing and applying the knowledge gathered while combating a real-life concurrent emergency, one can further be prepared to face such emergencies. Hence, this study intends to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) having a major role in effective management of concurrent emergencies and evaluate the indispensable links among the factors. Twelve CSFs are identified from Pareto analysis, for which feedback from 46 experts involved in the management of emergencies is utilized. In addition, the revised rough-decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (rough-DEMATEL) approach is suggested to analyze the indispensable links among the CSFs and further, these factors are ranked based on the average vector length. The recent case of concurrent emergency in Bangladesh- floods amid a pandemic is considered to establish the applicability of this method. The findings of this research reveal that to handle concurrent emergencies 'Incremental improvement of proactive measures', 'Resilient supply chain and logistics network', and 'Government leadership and military cooperation' are the most critical factors to concurrent emergency management (CEM). These CSFs play a major role in ensuring the effectiveness of CEM. Thus, this study can be a building block in developing an effective CEM plan for the policymakers, managers, and practitioners.

COVID-19 Knowledge and Pandemic-Associated Distress Among the Hospital Pharmacist Workforce in China

BACKGROUND

The unprecedented disruption brought about by the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had produced tremendous influence on the practice of pharmacy. Sufficient knowledge of pharmacists was needed to deal with the epidemic situation; however, outbreak also aggravated psychological distress among health-care professionals. Therefore, this study aimed to determine knowledge about the pandemic and related factors, prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress among hospital pharmacists of Xinjiang Province, China.

METHODS

An anonymous online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted by means of WeChat, a popular social media platform in China, February 23-27, 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak. The survey questionnaire consisted of 4 parts, including informed consent section, demographic section, knowledge about COVID-19, and assessment of overall mental health through World Health Organization's Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). A score of 8 or above on SRQ-20 was used as cutoff to classify the participant as in psychological distress. SRQ-20 score and related knowledge score were used as dependent variables, demographic characteristics (such as gender, age, monthly income, etc.) were used as independent variables, and univariate binary logistic regression was used to screen out the variables with P < 0.05. Then, the filtered variables were used as independent variables, and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze associations with sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 and psychological distress.

RESULTS

A total of 365 pharmacists participated in the survey, fewer than half (35.1%; n = 128) of pharmacists attained a score of 6 or greater (out of 10) in overall disease knowledge, and most were able to select effective disinfectants and isolation or discharge criteria. In the multivariable model, age ages 31-40 (odds ratio [OR] = 3.25; P < 0.05), ages 41-50 (OR = 2.96; P < 0.05) versus >50 (referent); primary place of practice in hospitals: drug supply (OR = 4.00; P < 0.01), inpatient pharmacy (OR = 2.06, P < 0.01), clinical pharmacy (OR = 2.17, P < 0.05) versus outpatient pharmacy (referent); monthly income Renminbi (RMB, China's legal currency) 5000-10,000 (OR = 1.77; P < 0.05) versus < 5000 (referent); contact with COVID-19 patients or suspected cases (OR = 2.27; P < 0.01); access to COVID-19 knowledge remote work+ on-site work (OR = 6.07; P < 0.05), single on-site work (OR = 6.90; P < 0.01) versus remote work (referent) were related to better knowledge of COVID-19. Research found that 18.4% of pharmacists surveyed met the SRQ-20 threshold for distress. Self-reported history of mental illness (OR = 3.56; P < 0.05) and working and living in hospital versus delay in work resumption (OR = 2.87; P < 0.01) were found to be risk factors of psychological distress.

CONCLUSIONS

Further training of COVID-19 knowledge was required for pharmacists. As specific pharmacist groups were prone to psychological distress, it was important for individual hospitals and government to consider and identify pharmacists' needs and take steps to meet their needs with regard to pandemic and other work-related distress.

Factors associated with Turkish pharmacists' intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine: an observational study

Background Pharmacists have been taking part in vaccination services during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, research identifying pharmacists’ intention to get COVID-19 vaccine is limited. Aim The objective of this study was to determine the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine and to identify the factors related to it based on the Health Belief Model framework among Turkish pharmacists. Method This is an observational study conducted between December 2020 and January 2021. The online survey was sent to all hospital and community pharmacists working in Turkey. Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change and Health Belief Model were used for the development of the questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine. Results Among all participants (n = 961), 74.7% had an intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. In model 1, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers were associated with their intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (p < 0.05). In model 2, the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine was associated with being male, years of experience in the professional field, not having contracted COVID-19, having a pharmacy staff who had contracted COVID-19, and having had received seasonal flu shot within the previous year (p < 0.05). Conclusion This study highlights the factors related to the intention of the pharmacists to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Health Belief Model is the strongest predictor for vaccination intention and could be used to develop behavioural change techniques to promote vaccination.

COVID the Catalyst for Evolving Professional Role Identity? A Scoping Review of Global Pharmacists' Roles and Services as a Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic requires a range of healthcare services to meet the needs of society. The objective was to explore what is known about the roles and services performed by frontline pharmacists during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A scoping review was conducted of frontline pharmacists' roles and services during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A medical librarian conducted comprehensive searches in five bibliographic databases-MEDLINE (via Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection for articles published between December 2019 and December 2020. The initial search retrieved 3269 articles. After removing duplicates, 1196 articles titles and abstracts were screened, 281 full texts were reviewed for eligibility, and 63 articles were included. This scoping review presents a conceptual framework model of the different layers made visible by COVID-19 of pharmacist roles in public health, information, and medication management. It is theorized that there is an invisible layer of change representing evolving professional role identity that may influence permanent role change following the pandemic. Thus, the pharmacy profession needs to build upon the lessons and experiences of this global pandemic and not let the momentum of the visible and invisible changes go to waste.

Influence of COVID-19 on Health-Related Quality of Life and the Perception of Being Vaccinated to Prevent COVID-19: An Approach for Community Pharmacists from Romania and Bulgaria

Community pharmacists are essential front-line health workers, involved in relieving the COVID-19 burden. Their health-related quality of life status needs to be assessed, as lower levels could affect their functioning. In order to evaluate the current status of community pharmacists’ quality of life from Romania and Bulgaria during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify factors associated with their decision on being vaccinated to prevent COVID-19, an online survey involving 395 community pharmacists was conducted from 15th July 2020 to 15th August 2020. The 15D instrument was used for quality-of-life assessment. The pharmacists’ recommendations for vitamin C and D intake during the COVID-19 pandemic were also analyzed in order to promote future training programs for community pharmacists. Descriptive statistics, comparative analyses between pharmacists from Romania and Bulgaria, and multiple correlation analyses were performed on the collected data. Significant differences were observed for the level of quality of life between the two groups of pharmacists according to their age; smaller values, directly correlated with their age (total 15D score and age: Spearman r = 0.168, p = 0.022), were obtained for Bulgarian pharmacists regarding sleeping, usual activities, mental function, discomfort and symptoms, depression, distress. The perception of being vaccinated did not differ between Romanian and Bulgarian pharmacists, as almost 50% agreed to vaccination (p = 0.7542). Their willingness to vaccinate was correlated with vitamin D usage (p = 0.0134), rather than with vitamin C (p = 0.4157). No other significant associations were found between willingness to get vaccinated to prevent COVID-19 and other characteristics (age, gender, income, quality-of-life markers). Evidence-based interventions are required to enhance the health-related quality of life of community pharmacists involved in the first line of the COVID-19 pandemic.