Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37430298›Full record

ArticleJournal of pharmaceutical policy and practice2023

Experience and attitudes of pharmacists towards challenges and adaptive measures to new norm in ward pharmacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chew Beng Ng, You Leng Tan, Ros Sakinah Kamaludin, Chee Tao Chang, Chii-Chii Chew, Wai Keng Foong, Siew Huang Lee, Normi Hamdan, Su Yin Ong

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice, 2023. 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
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 30% 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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  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

9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Chew Beng NgPharmacy Department, Hospital Taiping, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Taiping, Malaysia.
You Leng TanPharmacy Department, Hospital Taiping, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Taiping, Malaysia.
Ros Sakinah KamaludinPharmacy Department, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Ipoh, Malaysia.
Chee Tao ChangClinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Ipoh, Malaysia. davidcct.crc@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9263-446X
Chii-Chii ChewClinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Ipoh, Malaysia.
Wai Keng FoongPharmacy Department, Hospital Batu Gajah, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Batu Gajah, Malaysia.
Siew Huang LeePharmacy Department, Hospital Kuala Kangsar, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Kuala Kangsar, Malaysia.
Normi HamdanPharmacy Department, Hospital Seri Manjung, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Seri Manjung, Malaysia.
Su Yin OngPerak Pharmaceutical Services Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Tanjung Rambutan, Malaysia.
Ministry of Health · MY

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCOVID-19 pandemic has created challenges to the ward pharmacy practice. Challenges arose due to new norms in the ward pharmacy practice. Adaptive measures to overcome these challenges were important to sustain the quality of pharmaceutical care. This study aimed to identify the perceived challenges and attitudes towards adaptive measures in the ward pharmacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and determined their association with pharmacists' characteristics.

methodThis cross-sectional study was conducted in 14 Perak state hospitals and 12 primary health clinics through an online survey. All ward pharmacists and trainee pharmacists with at least 1 month of ward pharmacy experience and working in government-funded health facilities were included. The validated survey tool consisted of demographic characteristics, pharmacists' experience towards challenges (22 items), and their attitude towards adaptive measures (9 items). Each item was measured based on a 5-point Likert scale. One-way ANOVA and logistic regression were employed to determine the association of pharmacists' characteristics against their experience and attitude.

resultsOut of 175 respondents, 144 (81.8%) were female, and 84 (47.7%) were Chinese. Most pharmacists served in the medical ward (124, 70.5%). Commonly reported perceived challenges were difficulties in counselling medication devices (3.63 ± 1.06), difficulties in clerking medication history from family members (3.63 ± 0.99), contacting family members (3.46 ± 0.90), patient's digital illiteracy in virtual counselling (3.43 ± 1.11) and completeness of the electronic records (3.36 ± 0.99). For attitude towards adaptive measures, improving internet connection (4.62 ± 0.58), ensuring availability of multilingual counselling videos (4.45 ± 0.64), and provision of internet-enabled mobile devices (4.39 ± 0.76) were the most agreeable by the pharmacists. Male (AOR: 2.63, CI 1.12-6.16, p = 0.026) and master's degree holders (AOR: 2.79, CI 0.95-8.25, p = 0.063) had greater odds of high perceived challenging experience scores. Master's degree holders (AOR: 8.56, CI 1.741-42.069, p = 0.008) were also more likely to have a positive attitude score towards adaptive measures.

conclusionPharmacists faced multiple challenges in the ward pharmacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in medication history assessment and patient counselling. Pharmacists, especially those with higher levels of education and longer tenure, exhibited a higher level of agreement towards the adaptive measures. The positive attitudes of pharmacists towards various adaptive measures, such as improvement of internet infrastructure and digital health literacy among patients and family members, warrant immediate action plans from health authorities.

Indexed as

Adaptive measureChallengesCOVID-19 pandemicNew normWard pharmacist

Identifiers

PMID37430298
PMCPMC10331956
OpenAlexW4383724430

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.