Protective measures against COVID-19 and provision of pharmaceutical services in Nigerian hospitals
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: The World Health Organization has specified guidelines for healthcare workers when providing healthcare services in the bid to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Objectives: The study aimed at evaluating the level of adherence to protective measures against COVID-19 in the provision of pharmaceutical services in Nigerian hospitals.
Methods: A cross-sectional self-administered structured questionnaire based survey of 109 hospital pharmacists across 55 hospitals in Nigeria between April and May 2020. Data was summarized with frequencies and percentages and Chi-square was used to compare categorical variables at p<0.05.
Results: Majority of the respondents; 92 (84.4%), reported that they had direct contact with patients when conversing and 54 (49.5%) of them complained that the challenge of maintaining physical distancing impeded their effectiveness. Physical distancing was sub-optimal in about three- quarter; 78 (72.5%), of the pharmacy waiting area of the facilities studied. About one-third of the respondents; 43 (39.6%), reported optimal standards of other protective measures in their pharmacies. Non-tertiary level hospitals had better protective measures in their patient waiting area than the tertiary level hospitals ( 2 = 5.586, p = 0.018), but the practice setting did not 2 affect protective measures in the pharmacy ( = 2.022, p = 0.155).
Conclusion: Majority of the hospital pharmacists did not adhere to protective measures against COVID-19 in the provision of pharmaceutical services in Nigerian hospitals.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Share
References
World Health Organization. 2019. Coronavirus Disease. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novelcoronavirus-2019. Accessed June 7, 2020.
World Health Organization. Rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - interimguidance. March 2020.https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/rational-use-of-personal-protective-equipment-forcoronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-and-considerationsduring-severe-shortages. Accessed June 8, 2020.
Wiedenmayer K, Summers RS, Mackie CA, Gous AGS, Everard M, Tromp D. (2006). Developing Pharmacy Practice: A Focus on Patient Care. EDITI. Geneva: World Health Organization and International Pharmaceutical Federation. http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/WHO
_PSM_PAR_2006.5.pdf?ua=1. Accessed June 12, 2020.
Cipolle RJ, Strand LM, Morley PC. (2012). Pharmaceutical care practice. 3rd edition. New York (NY). McGraw-Hill.
World Health Organization. WHO calls for healthy, safe and decent working conditions for all health workers, amidst COVID-19 pandemic. 28th April 2020. https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/28-04-2020-who-calls-for-healthy-safe-and-decentworking-conditions-for-all-health-workers-amidstcovid-19-pandemic. Accessed June 8, 2020.
Adejoro L. 812 healthcare workers infected with COVID-19 - NCDC. Punch Healthwise. 2020, June 2.
https://healthwise.punchng.com/812-healthcareworkers-infected-with-covid-19-ncdc/ Accessed June 8, 2020.
Folorunsho-Francis A. Six frontline pharmacists test positive for COVID-19. Punch Healthwise. 2020, June 7. https://healthwise.punchng.com/six-frontlinepharmacists-test-positive-for-covid-19/ Accessed June 8, 2020.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. (2020). Scaling up COVID-19 testing capacity in Nigeria.
https://ncdc.gov.ng/reports/255/2020-april-week- 15. Accessed June 8, 2020.
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). (2020). COVID-19: Guidelines for pharmacists and the pharmacy workforce. 26th March 2020. https://www.fip.org /files/content/priorityareas/coronavirus/COVID-19-Guidelines-forpharmacists-and-the-pharmacy-workforce.pdf.
Accessed June 8, 2020.
Arain S, Thalapparambath R, Al Ghamdi FH. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic: Response plan by the Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare inpatient pharmacy department. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 17(1):2009 - 2011.
Liu S, Luo P, Tang M, Hu Q, Polidoro JP, Sun S, Gong Z. (2020). Providing pharmacy services during the coronavirus pandemic. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy 42(2):299-304.
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidance for pharmacies: Guidance for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in community
pharmacies during the COVID-19 response. 28th May 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pharmacies.html?fbclid=IwAR3iN830jGJl9nL4ZC_3-6oYqtfBb_uJGkaQK1bzupq-sMnFluKJnIkTACI. Accessed April 20, 2020.
Al Sadi BM, Harb Z, El-Dahiyat F, Anwar M. (2019). Improving patient waiting time: A quality initiative at a pharmacy of a public hospital in United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Healthcare Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2019.1692768. Accessed June 8, 2020.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society. (2020). Guidance for pharmacy: practical guidance for pharmacists and their team. https://www.rpharms.com/coronavirus. Accessed April 20, 2020.
Suleiman A, Bsisu I, Guzu H, Santarisi A, Alsatari M, Abbad A, Jaber A, Harb T, Abuhejleh A, Nadi N, Aloweidi A, Almustafa M. (2020). Preparedness of Frontline Doctors in Jordan Healthcare Facilities to COVID-19 Outbreak. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(9):3181. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17093181.
Wee LE, Conceicao EP, Sim XYJ, Aung MK, Tan KY, Wong HM, Wijaya L, Tan BH, Ling ML, Venkatachalam I. (2020). Minimizing intra-hospital transmission of COVID-19: the role of social distancing. Journal of Hospital Infection 105(2):113-115.
Wong SC, AuYeung CH, Lam GK, Leung EY, Chan VW, Yuen KY, Cheng VC. (2020). Is it possible to achieve 100 percent hand hygiene compliance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic? Journal of Hospital Infection 105(4):779-781.
Powell-Jackson T, King JJC, Makungu C, Spieker N, Woodd S, Risha P, Goodman C. (2020). Infection prevention and control compliance in Tanzanian outpatient facilities: a cross sectional study with implications for the control of COVID-19. The Lancet: Global Health 8 (6): e780- e789.
Lai X, Wang M, Qin C, Tan L, Ran L, Chen D, Zhang H, Shang K, Xia C, Wang S, Xu S, Wang W. (2020). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-2019) infection among healthcare workers and implications for prevention measures in a tertiary hospital in Wuhan, China. The Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open 3 (5): e209666. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.9666