A cross-sectional investigation of the impact of COVID-19 on community pharmacy

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 caused Australian government and state legislative/regulatory changes which impacted directly on aspects of professional community pharmacy. OBJECTIVES: To examine the views and experiences of community pharmacists regarding the impact of COVID-19 on professional pharmacy services in Western Australian community pharmacies. METHODS: A Qualtrics questionnaire link was emailed to all 668 community pharmacies in Western Australia in March 2021. Data were collected on the impact of COVID-19 on professional pharmacy services (telehealth, digital image prescriptions, continued dispensing and emergency supply, home delivery services, medicine and medical resource substitutions), the pharmacy environment (work hours) and professional pharmacy structure (staffing and any measures implemented). Questions included 5-point Likert responses as well as yes/no or option responses. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise questionnaire responses. Chi Squared analysis was used to investigate differences between metropolitan and rural community pharmacies. RESULTS: The response rate was 97/668 (14.5%). Many pharmacies belonged to banner groups (47/95; 40.5%). Use of telehealth was reported (25/96; 26.0%), most commonly for MedsChecks. Many received digital image prescriptions (83/88; 94.3%) and continued dispensing, emergency supply requests, or both (78/84; 92.9%) daily. For home deliveries, most used pharmacy staff (56/78; 71.8%). Shortages were reported for many medicines. Panic buying/stock-piling and the media contributed to increased panic and shortages. Little change occurred in trading hours although many reported increased workloads (67/75; 89.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Covid-19 has fast-tracked digitisation in Western Australian community pharmacies. This change is likely similar in other parts of Australia. This was facilitated through the expedition of regulatory changes to enable digital health. Whilst electronic prescribing has progressed, telehealth in pharmacy remained underutilised. The pandemic has contributed to pronounced medicine and medical resources shortages, which increased the workloads and pressure of community pharmacists. Pharmacists were confronted with a lot of legislative change in a short period of time. There is a need for clear and concise communication from all levels of government in future pandemics.