Community pharmacy services and preparedness during COVID-19 outbreak in Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BackgroundWearing facial masks, hand hygiene, and social distancing are highly recommended preventive measures against COVID-19. Masks and disinfectants are usually sold in community pharmacies that are supposed to undertake extreme precautions to avoid cross infection among clients. It is also their responsibility to play a prominent role in educating the community regarding this outbreak. ObjectivesTo investigate the preparedness of private community pharmacies in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, for the COVID-19 outbreak with regard to safety measures, customer education, and quality of preventive aids sold by them. MethodsOne hundred pharmacies were visited by simulated clients. The availability of free hand disinfectants, masks, gloves, and customer educational aids as well as the measures employed to ensure maintenance of safe distances between customers were documented. The adherence of pharmacists and customers to safety precautions and the behavior of pharmacists against violators of regulations were also observed. Finally, the availability and quality of facial masks and hand disinfectants sold by these pharmacies was documented. ResultsFifty-five pharmacies offered free hand disinfectants but only in three of them all customers used them. Only two pharmacies offered free disposable masks and temperature screening was available in only one pharmacy. Educational aids were found in 31 pharmacies and only 53 pharmacies used visual indicators for social distancing. Violation of wearing masks by pharmacy personnel and customers was seen in 34 and 87 pharmacies, respectively. Social distancing was violated in 64 pharmacies and intervention by staff was seen in only three of them. Finally, facial masks were available for sale in only 35 pharmacies, and in 23 of these, the quality was questionable; hand disinfectants were available in 84 pharmacies, and in 14 of these, the quality was unknown. ConclusionsCommunity pharmacies in Madinah were short of registered, high-quality facial masks during the survey. Means to control the transmission of infection inside pharmacies were unsatisfactory. Society has shown poor compliance to preventive measures against COVID-19 infection and the role of community pharmacists in promoting compliance was found to be poor. The study reveals an unsatisfactory level of preparedness of Madinah community pharmacies for the pandemic.