Pharmacist-patient communication amid COVID-19 pandemic: A review of available options and potential impact

Abstract

Communication plays a vital role to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines. Nevertheless, movement restriction measures and social distancing policies amid the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have introduced a significant communication barrier between pharmacists and patients. As such, there is an urgent need for alternative approaches to continue pharmacist-patient communication for pharmaceutical care activities. This narrative review summarized the use of five alternative approaches to replace traditional face-to-face counselling by pharmacists:  telephone counselling, videoconference, multimedia-mediated counselling, provision of reading materials, and drug reminder packaging. These five approaches may be used interchangeably on their own or as a model of care where different aspects of each approach may be combined to deliver coherent pharmaceutical care.

How to Cite

Kow, C. S. & Hasan, S., (2021) “Pharmacist-patient communication amid COVID-19 pandemic: A review of available options and potential impact”, British Journal of Pharmacy 6(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/bjpharm.836

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Authors

Chia Siang Kow (International Medical University)
Syed Shahzad Hasan (University of Huddersfield)

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

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None

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This article has been peer reviewed.

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