Abstract
In the global pandemic of COVID-19, community pharmacists play key roles in implementing personal protective measures to control their own risk as well as the patient’s risk of being infected with COVID-19. This study was designed to explore the COVID-19 knowledge and precautionary measures of the pharmacists and patients in community pharmacies. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on the pharmacists and patients in community pharmacies. Community pharmacists (N=597) and patients (N=779) from 162 community pharmacies were the subjects of the analysis. Though the pharmacists and patients had good COVID knowledge, the mean Knowledge score (K score) among the pharmacists (7.71±1.43) was statistically higher than that of patients (7.35±1.64, p<0.01). Regarding the precautionary measures, the mean precautionary measure score (P score) of the pharmacists (8.17±1.86) was statistically higher than that of the patients (7.91±2.04, p<0.05). Considering COVID knowledge of patients of different age groups (age: ≤39 and ≥40), no statistically significant differences were observed. Whereas regarding the precautionary measures, between these two age groups, several statistically significant differences were observed in the mean P score (≥40: 8.09±1.99, ≤39: 7.29±2.07, p<0.001) and in the implementing rates in some of the practices, avoiding crowded places, avoiding touching eyes/nose/mouth, etc. (p=0.043, p<0.001, respectively). The community pharmacists were found to have better knowledge and implemented better precautionary measures for the prevention of COVID-19 than the patients. The young generation patients should be educated on the essential protective measures for reducing the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19. Key words: COVID-19, community pharmacy practice, pandemic, personal protective measures, patients, community pharmacists
Highlights
More than one year had passed since the global pandemic on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) onMarch 2020 (WHO, 2020a)
The correct rates were statistically higher among the community pharmacists than among the patients (p
As previous studies have shown that community pharmacists are always in contact with the patients, they are a vulnerable population for COVID-19 and face the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 as frontline health care workers (Ung, 2020; Zheng et al, 2021), it is critical for community pharmacists to reduce their own risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 by implementing these essential precautionary measures
Summary
More than one year had passed since the global pandemic on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) onMarch 2020 (WHO, 2020a). In Japan, since the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 positive was reported on January 2020, the number of patients has. Increased throughout Japan until it has reached 1,726,474 cases on November 22th, 2021 (MHLW, 2020a, b). With a decrease in the number of patients (MHLW, 2020b), the 1st lockdown was lifted on May 25, 2020 and a new normal life with COVID-19 started from that time. Through the autumn season in 2020, the number of new daily diagnosed COVID-19 patients gradually increased and reached over 7,000 (total 7,537 newly diagnosed patients as of January 7, 2021) following the season of social gatherings for Christmas and New Year (MHLW, 2020b). On January 7, 2021, the Japanese government declared the 2nd lockdown for 11 out of 47 prefectures, including Tokyo. Taking personal precautionary measures is essential for the public in Japan
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