Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32387230›Full record

ArticleResearch in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP2021

When fear and misinformation go viral: Pharmacists' role in deterring medication misinformation during the 'infodemic' surrounding COVID-19.

Daniel A Erku, Sewunet A Belachew, Solomon Abrha, Mahipal Sinnollareddy, Jackson Thomas, Kathryn J Steadman, Wubshet H Tesfaye

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
87citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
71.6field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

87 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 256 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Disinformation: A Bibliometric Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
    Pooled it
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  10. A Critical Juncture for Drug Information and Evidence-Based Voices.The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics : JPPT : the official journal of PPAG · 2025
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27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Daniel A ErkuSchool of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, 4102, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: d.erku@uq.edu.au.
Sewunet A BelachewSchool of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, 4006, Queensland, Australia; School of Pharmacy, University of Gondar, Ethiopia. Electronic address: s.belachew@uq.net.au.
Solomon AbrhaPharmacy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia; Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Mekelle University, Ethiopia. Electronic address: Solomon.Bezabh@canberra.edu.au.
Mahipal SinnollareddyTherapeutic Goods Administration, Department of Health, ACT, Australia. Electronic address: Mahipal.Sinnollareddy@health.gov.au.
Jackson ThomasPharmacy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia. Electronic address: Jackson.Thomas@canberra.edu.au.
Kathryn J SteadmanSchool of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, 4102, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: k.steadman@uq.edu.au.
Wubshet H TesfayeHealth Research Institute, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia. Electronic address: Wubshet.Tesfaye@canberra.edu.au.
University of Queensland · AUUniversity of Canberra · AUGovernment of Western Australia Department of Health · AUMekelle University · ET

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The world has faced an unprecedented challenge when coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged as a pandemic. Millions of people have contracted the virus and a significant number of them lost their lives, resulting in a tremendous social and economic shock across the globe. Amid the growing burden of the pandemic, there are parallel emergencies that need to be simultaneously tackled: the proliferation of fake medicines, fake news and medication misinformation surrounding COVID-19. Pharmacists are key health professionals with the required skills and training to contribute to the fight against these emergencies. Primarily, they can be a relevant source of accurate and reliable information to the public or other fellow health professionals thereby reducing the spread of COVID-19 medication misinformation. This can be achieved by providing accurate and reliable information based on recommendations given by relevant health authorities and professional associations to make sure the community understand the importance of the message and thus minimise the detrimental consequences of the pandemic. This commentary aims to summarise the existing literature in relation to the promising treatments currently under trial, the perils of falsified medications and medicine-related information and the role of pharmacists in taking a leading role in combating these parallel global emergencies.

Indexed as

CommunicationCOVID-19FearHumansPharmaceutical ServicesPharmacistsProfessional RoleCoronavirusCOVID-19MisinformationPandemicsPharmacists

Identifiers

PMID32387230
PMCPMC7252082
OpenAlexW3023222413

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.