LYCEANS’ TRAIL: Appreciate Your Community Pharmacists
by: Jerwel Renz Tulop, BS Pharmacy

We are all witnessing changes in our everyday lives, with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation remaining complex and dominating the news. Some of us have obtained orders to work at home. Others may continue to go to work, but they may have concerns about disease exposure. In colleges, classes have been discontinued, which can cause problems with regard to child care. With long waiting times and trouble locating products that are now in demand, shopping has become stressful. We have been prevented from being present in many people’s locations, including scheduled family events, our favorite restaurants, social clubs, or places of worship.

Both of these variables can be stressful and disturbing. The social isolation and relentless feeding of COVID-19 news stories leads to increased anxiety, depression and loneliness for many. Despite this, taking care of yourselves is still necessary. I hope, therefore, to have shed some light for you. I want to encourage you that your pharmacist will be there for you through all of these difficulties.

The availability and timely supply of the safest and most effective treatment is one of the fundamental roles of pharmacists. In this position, pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic must prepare for, detect and mitigate drug shortages. This is important because medication shortages can contribute to the prescription of suboptimal therapy and have been linked to patient injury. Also, in order to avoid the spread of illnesses, pharmacists must also assist the healthcare team and infection preventionists.

Lastly, during this public health emergency, pharmacists are a trusted and accessible resource for the public, particularly community pharmacists. Pharmacists should inform their patients and the public on effective methods to avoid infection from being acquired and spread further (e.g. optimal hand hygiene, physical distance, staying home if respiratory symptoms are present), symptomatic relief, and the best resources for current COVID-19 information.

To conclude, less than 9 months ago, the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic took place, our understanding of the disease is evolving daily, and it is unclear how long the pandemic will last. As a drug knowledge specialist, pharmacists play a crucial role in reviewing literature relating to new or repurposed therapies and can help make system-level and patient-specific care decisions, as well as ensure access to these therapies and other medications due to pandemic shortages. Pharmacists are key in reducing adverse effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic by acting as a resource for doctors and other medical practitioners, patients and the public.