Emergency pharmacy workforce views and experience related to the provision of pharmaceutical care during mass gathering events: the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ experience

Purpose

This study aimed to explore emergency pharmacy workforce perspectives and experiences in providing pharmaceutical care during mass gathering events (i.e., FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™).

Methods

A qualitative methodology was employed using focus groups discussions. Emergency pharmacists across Hamad Medical Corporation were invited to participate using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and validated. Inductive thematic analysis was undertaken to generate key themes and subthemes.

Results

Four focus groups were conducted which included 21 participants and generated five major themes. Whilst participants had mixed opinions in relation to their preparedness to practice during the World Cup, they perceived their experience as successful and smooth. The primary perceived facilitators were management support, mobile medical units, and high public health awareness. The main highlighted barriers were related to staff insufficiency, medications availability, and cultural and language challenges. Participants recommended pharmacist's role identification in mass gatherings, development of pharmacy action plan, and offering simulation training and pharmacy-specific training.

Conclusion

Despite the perceived barriers, pharmacists reported positive views in relation to their experience in providing pharmaceutical care during mass gatherings. Future research should focus on the development of theory-driven action framework for pharmacy departments to adopt during mass gatherings.

Disaster Preparedness Amongst Emergency Pharmacists for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Purpose

The aim of this study is to assess the level of preparedness of pharmacists working in the emergency department at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) for any emergency disasters that may take place during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ by evaluating their awareness (A), attitude (A), and readiness (R).

Methods

A cross-sectional quantitative observational study was conducted through a web-based survey. The survey was distributed among emergency pharmacists working in general hospitals under HMC. The questionnaire was composed of three major domains assessing awareness, attitude, readiness, as well as an additional domain to collect the participants' demographics. Student's t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and linear regression were used with an alpha level of 0.05.

Results

Most pharmacists working in the emergency departments at HMC had high levels of awareness (76.9%), attitude (92%), and readiness (53.8%) for any emergency disasters that may occur during the FIFA World Cup 2022. Nonetheless, almost half of the respondents reported moderate level of readiness for emergency events. Pharmacists with >10 years' practice experience had significantly higher AAR score compared to those with <5 years' experience (P = 0.002). Significant direct positive correlations were found among the 3 AAR parameters (P < 0.05). Attitude was found to be a significant predictor of readiness (P < 0.05). A model composed of attitude and awareness could predict 12% of readiness score.

Conclusion

Emergency pharmacists at HMC have high level of preparedness for any emergency disaster event during the World Cup. Future research should focus on the development of theory-based action framework for pharmacy departments during mass gathering events.

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

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.

Medical comorbidities in patients with serious mental illness: a retrospective study of mental health patients attending an outpatient clinic in Qatar

BACKGROUND

The life span of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) is shorter compared to the general population. This excess mortality is mainly due to physical illness. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence rates of different physical illnesses in individuals with SMI and to examine how these are being managed.

METHODS

The study was a cross-sectional retrospective chart review of a cohort of patients with SMI. A comprehensive electronic data extraction tool using SurveyMonkey^® was used to collect patient demographics, psychiatric and medical comorbidities, medications and all relevant physical assessments. Data were then first extrapolated into an Excel^® spreadsheet and later to SPSS^® for data analysis. A descriptive statistical approach was used to analyze the demographic and clinical data. Chi-square test for categorical variables and t-test for continuous variables were used to compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of the cohort.

RESULTS

A total of 336 patients with SMI were included for the retrospective chart review. The majority of these patients had a diagnosis of depression (50.3%), followed by schizophrenia (33.0%) and bipolar disorder (19.6%). Diabetes was the most frequent medical comorbidity, diagnosed in 16.1% of SMI patients, followed by hypertension (9.2%) and dyslipidemia (9.8%). Monitoring of comorbidity-associated risk factors and other relevant physical assessment parameters (such as blood pressure, weight, hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], blood glucose and lipids) were documented in less than 50% of patients, and some parameters, such as smoking status, were not documented at all.

CONCLUSION

Both, the literature and our cohort provide evidence that individuals with SMI are less likely to receive standard levels of care for their medical comorbidities.