Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34390010›Full record

ArticleThe International journal of health planning and management2021

How medicines sales staff is responding to presumptive COVID-19 patients attending drug retail outlets: An exploratory qualitative study.

Muhammad Atif, Muhammad Ahmad, Iram Malik, Irem Mushtaq, Nafees Ahmad, Mehjabin, Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The International journal of health planning and management, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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.

Muhammad AtifDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6866-8152
Muhammad AhmadDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Iram MalikDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8029-7163
Irem MushtaqDepartment of Education, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Nafees AhmadDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan.
MehjabinDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Zaheer-Ud-Din BabarDepartment of Pharmacy, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The objective of this qualitative study was to explore how the medicine sales staff responded to presumptive COVID-19 patients in Pakistan. The data were obtained from the medicine sales staff working at drug retail outlets of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, through in-depth face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. A two-step sampling strategy was used, including purposive and convenient sampling techniques. Sample size was determined by applying the saturation point criteria. A total of 17 interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the thematic analysis. Analysis of data yielded six themes and seven sub-themes. The themes included (1) knowledge about various aspects of COVID-19, (2) practices of sales staff in response to COVID-19 pandemic, (3) attitude of sales staff towards COVID-19 pandemic, (4) services offered to presumptive COVID-19 patients, (5) challenges encountered during pandemic and (6) suggestions to improve delivery of pharmacy services by sales staff. In Pakistan, non-pharmacist sales staff had superficial knowledge about COVID-19. Presumptive COVID-19 patients were provided with only basic pharmacy services. Professional training is advised among pharmacy sales staff as a short-term solution to improve their knowledge. As a long-term goal, the availability of pharmacists at drug retail outlets is warranted.

Indexed as

Community Pharmacy ServicesCOVID-19Pharmaceutical PreparationsAttitude of Health PersonnelHumansPandemicsPharmacistsProfessional RoleSARS-CoV-2Pharmaceutical Preparationscommunity pharmaciesCOVID-19Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistandrug retail outletsmedicines sales staffpharmacy services

Identifiers

PMID34390010
PMCPMC8426854

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.