Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Practice of Community Pharmacy in Kisumu County

Abstract

Occurrence of pandemics affects every person in one way or another. The recent COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that even frontline healthcare providers are no exception. Pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists at the community pharmacy are often among the first healthcare provider’s patients visit during crises. They thus form a crucial team for supply of medicines, counselling, and controlling the spread of infections. There is either scanty or no data on how precisely the dispensation of community pharmacy was affected especially in Africa during the Covid 19 regime. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the practice of community pharmacy in Kisumu County. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted involving 100 subjects. Subjects were selected through convenient sampling method. Open ended questionnaires were used to collect data. The questionnaires were self-administered as google forms. Key informant interviews of sampled practitioners were also conducted. A total of 77 subjects responded to the shared questionnaire. A total of 89.6% were pharmaceutical technologists while 10.4% were pharmacists with majority being males (64.9%). Most (57.9%) had between 6 to 10 years of working experience but with no previous experiences (68.8%) on pandemics or national disasters. About 52.6% had received COVID-19 pandemic vaccination and most (70.1%) were trained on COVID-19 management and prevention. A total of 76.6% had been trained on vaccination but only 9.2% were in a position to carry out vaccination in their premises. Further, 58.4% agreed that the pandemic had negatively impacted their practice with most impact felt at socio-economic (97.4%) and psychological levels (75.3%). Moreover, all agreed the pandemic had affected supply chain especially in terms of drug costing (61%) and demand (62.3%). The demand of azithromycin (18.2%), face masks, sanitizers (10.4%) and dexamethasone were largely impacted. A total of 55.8% agreed that technology had impacted their practice during the pandemic in terms of online pharmacy services, especially through online prescription filling (97.7%). To adapt to changing times, practitioners had to increase client engagement (81.8%) and seek aid from financial institutions (55.8%) to stay in business. The pandemic had a slightly more negative than positive impact on the practice of community pharmacy in Kisumu County.