Simulated Client Research Articles

Enhancing Health and Exercise Consultation through Scenario-Based Learning: An Approach for Interpersonal Skill Development

This practice report describes the application of scenario-based learning to improve awareness of interpersonal skills in sport and exercise students. Thirty second-year undergraduate students over two consecutive academic years engaged in three scenario-based learning activities that simulated client interviews and consultations. The consensus among the students was that the scenarios increased their awareness of active listening, recognising physical client cues, and understanding the intricate dynamics of the ‘client-practitioner’ interaction. The implementation of scenario-based health and exercise consultations provided students with an immersive and effective learning experience, which promoted the development of the interpersonal skills required for successful client consultations.

Community Pharmacy Professionals' Knowledge and Counseling Skills for the Treatment of Acute Diarrhea in Children in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia: Questionnaire Based and Simulated Client Study.

The study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and counseling skills of community pharmacy professionals regarding managing acute diarrhea in children in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study consisting of a questionnaire and simulated client scenario was conducted to collect data from pharmacy professionals working in community pharmacies over a period of 3 months in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. Pharmacy professionals were assessed for evaluating cases using 5 indicators (the age of the child, the frequency of diarrhea, fever and the presence of mucus or blood) and also for their recommendations and counseling. The data were collected from 60 pharmacy professionals after site visits. In the questionnaire, 60% of the pharmacy professionals used all 5 indicators, while in the simulation, 13.3% used at least 3 indicators and 80% used 2 or fewer indicators (p = 0.35). An oral rehydration solution was recommended alone by 35% of the pharmacy professionals and with other drugs by 13.3% in the questionnaire, while in the simulation, an oral rehydration solution alone was recommended by 15% and other drugs by 48.3%. Approximately 86.7% of the pharmacy professionals did not give any dietary advice, and 50% did not counsel the simulated client on the recommended drug. The community pharmacy professionals in the study did not ask enough questions to evaluate a child suffering from acute diarrhea appropriately in the simulation. More questions were asked in the questionnaire; however, the difference is not significant. Additionally, they did not provide proper dietary advice, and their recommendation of an oral rehydration solution was insufficient.

Hypervisor-based data synthesis: On its potential to tackle the curse of client-side agent remnants in forensic image generation

In the field of digital forensics, the number and heterogeneity of devices typically involved in an investigation is increasing. In order to train digital forensics practitioners and make faster progress in the development and validation of forensic tools, the demand for up-to-date data sets is high. However, manually creating data sets is a complex, tedious, and time-consuming task increasing the need for automated solutions. Existing data generation frameworks typically use components that run directly on the simulated client (e.g., a client-side agent controlled via SSH). On the one hand, this facilitates simulation by providing direct feedback from the client and the ability to use client-side libraries to access software. On the other hand, however, this approach creates unintended traces in the generated data sets that quickly reveal their synthetic origin and affect their realism and thus their relevance. To avoid such traces, this paper presents a hypervisor-based solution to eliminate such a client-side software component in a recent digital forensic data set generator, while compensating for its absence only through host-side means. To demonstrate the practicability of the proposed approach as well as the indistinguishability of the generated traces, a multi-participant scenario is performed as a proof of concept to replicate a realistic attack scenario on a Linux system from a Kali attacker machine. During the evaluation, the generated data set is compared in terms of unintended traces and realism to a data set generated by the same framework using an agent component. In this way, we demonstrate the benefits and overall usefulness of an agent-less data synthesis approach.

The Influence of Audit Evidence Framing on Auditors’ Judgment

ABSTRACT Framing effects are a phenomenon where individuals respond differently to equivalent information presented in a positive or negative manner. Whether framing effects within audit evidence affect auditor judgment is unknown. We conduct a simulated client inquiry experiment to investigate whether the framing of an inquiry evidence item (positive versus negative) and the timing of the frame within the inquiry evidence series (at the beginning versus end) influences auditor judgment. More consistent with attribute framing than belief-adjustment predictions, our findings suggest a primacy effect where participants who receive a positive frame at the beginning of the inquiry are less likely to change their initial assessments of misstatement than participants who receive a “neutral” perspective (i.e., both positive and negative frames simultaneously). Our results imply that positively framed initial evidence, relative to other settings, may constrain auditors’ consideration of subsequent evidence when making judgments about the account in question. Data Availability: Data are available from the authors on request.

A multi-objective approach for communication reduction in federated learning under devices heterogeneity constraints

Federated learning is a paradigm that proposes protecting data privacy by sharing local models instead of raw data during each iteration of model training. However, these models can be large, with many parameters, provoking a substantial communication cost and having a notable environmental impact. Reducing communication overhead is paramount but conflictual to maintaining the model’s accuracy. Most research has dealt with the different factors influencing communication reduction separately without addressing their correlations. Moreover, most of them do not consider the heterogeneity of clients’ hardware. Finding the optimal configuration to fulfil all these training aspects can become intractable for classical techniques. This work explores the add-in that multi-objective evolutionary algorithms can provide for solving the communication overhead problem while achieving high accuracy. We do this by 1) realistically modelling and formulating this task as a multi-objective problem by considering the devices’ heterogeneity, 2) including all the communication-triggering aspects, and 3) applying a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with an intensification operator to solve the problem. A simulated client–server architecture of four devices with four different processing speeds is studied. Both fully connected and convolutional neural network models are investigated with 33,400 and 887,530 weights, respectively. The experiments are performed using the MNIST and Fashion-MNIST datasets. A comparison is made between three approaches using an extensive set of metrics. Results prove that our approach obtains solutions with better accuracy than the full-communication setting and other methods while getting reductions in communications by around 1,000 times in most cases and up to 10,000 times in some cases compared to the maximum communication setting.

Community pharmacists' treatment patterns and counselling of acute diarrhea in children: A simulation-based cross-sectional study.

Diarrhea is a significant global health concern, particularly among children, and its impact is particularly pronounced in countries with limited resources and ongoing conflicts, such as Yemen. Diarrheal diseases remain one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children under the age of 5 years worldwide. The aim of our study is to assess the treatment patterns and counseling of community pharmacists regarding the management of acute diarrhea in children in Yemen. A simulation-based cross-sectional study was carried out targeting community pharmacy professionals in Sana'a city. A questionnaire and simulated client methods were used to assess the pharmacists' evaluation of a case based on five indicators including the child's age, diarrhea frequency, presence of fever, and blood or mucus. In addition, the pharmacists' recommendations and counseling were also evaluated. During the study, a total of 100 pharmacists were visited and evaluated using both a questionnaire and simulation. The results demonstrated that 43.0% of the pharmacists utilized all five indicators in the questionnaire, with a mere 3.0% using all five indicators in the simulation. Oral rehydration solution (ORS) alone was recommended by 42.0% of the pharmacists and in combination with other drugs by 47.0% in the questionnaire, and the rest (11.0%) recommended only other drugs; while in the simulation, 7.0% of the pharmacists referred the patients to clinic, only 6.0% recommended ORS alone, 47.0% gave ORS plus other drugs including antibiotics, and 40.0% dispensed only antibiotics. In regards to counseling, 89.0% of pharmacists reported that they would explain to the patient regarding the recommended medicine during the questionnaire, and only 36.0% gave any sort of explanation to the simulated client. In the current study, community pharmacists did not ask enough questions to accurately evaluate a child with acute diarrhea during the simulation. This finding has apparently differed from their responses in the questionnaire. Furthermore, the pharmacists failed to provide sufficient dietary advice, and their recommendation of ORS was inadequate.

Availability and Price Variations of Commonly Used Cardiovascular Medicines at Community and Hospital Pharmacies in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia.

Background: Access to cardiovascular medications is severely hampered by their unavailability and high cost, particularly for the poorest households in developing nations. The availability and price range of cardiovascular medications are significantly limited in both hospital and community pharmacies. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the availability and price variations of commonly used cardiovascular medicines in hospital pharmacies in Gondar Town, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: From July 13 to August 6, 2022, a mixed cross-sectional and simulated client survey was carried out at two hospital and 13 community pharmacies in Gondar Town. The analysis and data entry were performed using SPSS Version 25 and EpiData Version 4.2, respectively. The availability and pricing variations of the medications are given as percentages. The significance was examined using paired t tests. Results: On average, community retail pharmacies offered 33.22% of CVD drugs. Aspirin (81 mg), amlodipine (5 mg), atorvastatin (20 mg), and hydrochlorothiazide (25 mg) were the most readily available drugs in community pharmacies. Overall, 28.00% of the hospital pharmacies had available CVD medicines during the course of our analysis. The average cost for the 25 CVD medications in hospital pharmacies was $0.699, with a standard deviation (SD) of 1.513, which was less than the cost at community pharmacies ($2.741 with an SD of 6.015) (p = 0.045). Conclusion: CVD medications were more available in community pharmacies than in hospital pharmacies, although there were fewer CVD medications available than recommended by the WHO/HAI (80%) in both hospital and community pharmacies. There was a statistically significant difference between the two prices. Compared to that at hospital pharmacies, the mean price at community pharmacies was greater.

Selling antibiotics without prescriptions among community pharmacies and drug outlets: a simulated client study from Ghana

ABSTRACT Background Selling antibiotics without prescriptions is mostly illegal worldwide, including in Ghana, and promotes antimicrobial resistance. We evaluated the prevalence and practice of selling antibiotics without prescriptions among community pharmacies (CPs) and drug outlets, for the first time, in Ghana to quantify and characterize this issue to inform future interventions. Research design and methods Two scenarios utilizing the Simulated Client Methodology were enacted: an upper respiratory tract infection of viral origin (scenario one); and pediatric diarrhea (scenario two). CPs/Outlets were selected by stratified proportional random sampling from four metropolitan cities (~14% of the total Ghanaian population). Selling of antibiotics was assessed at three demand levels and its overall prevalence was estimated, then stratified by the study variables. Results Out of the 265 sampled CPs/outlets, the prevalence of selling antibiotic without prescription was 88.3% (n = 234/265), with variations not only across the four regions [92.5% (n = 123/133) in Kumasi, 87.5% (n = 14/16) in Cape Coast, 84.1% (n = 69/82) in Accra, and 82.4% (n = 28/34) in Tamale] but also across CPs [90% (n = 121/134)] and drug outlets [86% (n = 113/131)]. Conclusions A very high prevalence/sub-optimal practice of selling antibiotics without prescriptions was found. This highlights the need to increase compliance with antibiotic dispensing legislation through evidence-based interventions including education of key stakeholders.

Provider bias and family planning in Upper Egypt: a simulated client approach

BackgroundProvider bias is a main barrier that extensively violates the right of free family planning method choice. Egypt is one of the countries that shows skewness in its method mix. Provider bias and insufficiency of alternative methods are identified as potential factors underlying this phenomenon which contributes to high unmet needs and discontinuation rates. Provider bias may be influenced by cultural beliefs and societal trends and is usually overlooked as a possible cause of this skewed method mix. This study aims to explore the presence of provider bias in rural Upper Egypt and its potential causes, a community with conservative cultural beliefs and least contraceptive prevalence rates.MethodsThis is a qualitative study using the “simulated client’s approach.” The study was conducted in 16 villages in Assiut and Sohag governorates in Egypt. The simulated clients visited 30 clinics, 15 in each governorate, including primary healthcare units and private clinics. Three scenarios were used to explore the physicians-imposed restrictions for contraceptive use with different clients’ eligibility criteria. Data was analyzed using the grounded theory methodology.ResultsRecommending a contraceptive method for the mystery clients was not based on informed choice. Most providers had method or client bias. Copper IUD was the most favorable contraceptive method recommended by providers, with negative attitude towards using hormonal contraception. Nulliparous and young clients were discouraged to use contraception before proving fertility or offered temporary methods as emergency contraception or condoms. Providers have shown misconceptions related to infertility-associated complications of contraceptive use, especially for the young and nulliparous women.ConclusionIn this study, providers had a clear bias towards recommending IUD rather than all other contraceptive methods, which was hindered in some cases by the lack of insertion skills. Interventions to reduce provider bias should go beyond technical training. Moreover, training on reproductive rights should be a main component of routine training. Providers should regularly receive research results and be oriented toward recent medical eligibility criteria of contraceptive methods use. Moreover, the sociocultural beliefs of providers that may affect their practice should be explored and addressed.

A qualitative content analysis of ChatGPT's client simulation role‐play for practising counselling skills

AbstractRole‐play is often used as a pedagogical technique by counsellor educators to help counsellors‐in‐training (CITs) learn and practise counselling skills. This study used qualitative content analysis to assess the effectiveness of Chat Generative Pre‐Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, in simulating client role‐play to facilitate practising counselling skills. The author used 10 case vignettes to conduct a simulated role‐play where ChatGPT was asked to simulate the client and author as counsellor. The results indicated that ChatGPT demonstrated authenticity, consistency, appropriate emotional expression, cultural sensitivity, empathy and self‐awareness while portraying the client. However, at times, ChatGPT's responses to the counsellor's questions appeared overly idealised, lacking the authenticity typically observed in real clients. Furthermore, ChatGPT, as a simulated client, lacked non‐verbal cues, limiting the overall experience of counselling skill practice. Recommendations for CITs and future research are discussed.

Teaching Note—Adapting to Online Live Streamed OSCEs

ABSTRACT This teaching note describes how a school of social work adapted Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) during the COVID-19 pandemic to an online live-streamed format, providing students the opportunity to engage in this experiential learning activity despite pandemic-related limitations. A step-by-step process for developing online OSCEs is described, highlighting three key areas—planning, training, and implementation—and the significance of developing a community of practice. Reflections from our team on promising practices for conducting a live-stream OSCE, and insights from the perspectives of simulated clients (n=4), and experienced OSCE raters (n=6) are shared. Implications are described to support future teaching as educators are compelled to continuously prepare social work students for the online realities of practice beyond COVID-19.

Assessing antibiotic dispensing without prescription through simulated client methodology in developing countries: A comprehensive literature review from 2009 to 2021

Assessing antibiotic dispensing without prescription through simulated client methodology in developing countries: A comprehensive literature review from 2009 to 2021

Practice of pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists in response to self-medication request for a cough: a simulated client study

BackgroundCommunity pharmacy practice worldwide has been shifting from product-focused to patient-oriented. However, due to the absence of separation between prescribing and dispensing in Malaysia, community pharmacists may have limited roles in the provision of pharmaceutical care to patients with chronic diseases. Therefore, the main functions of community pharmacists in Malaysia are related to self-medication requests for minor ailments and the supply of non-prescription medications. The objective of this study was to determine the practice of pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists within the Klang Valley, Malaysia in response to self-medication requests for a cough.MethodsThis study utilised a simulated client method. A research assistant, acting as a simulated client, visited community pharmacies in the Klang Valley, Malaysia to consult the pharmacists on the treatment of a cough experienced by his father. Upon leaving the pharmacy premise, the simulated client entered the pharmacist’s responses in a data collection form which was structured based on pharmacy mnemonics for the response to symptoms, OBRA’90 on counselling elements, the five practice principles of pharmaceutical care by the American Pharmacists Association and literature review. Visits to the community pharmacies were conducted from September to October 2018.ResultsThe simulated client visited a total of 100 community pharmacies. None of these community pharmacists practised adequate patients’ data collection, with only a low proportion who practised all the components studied under medication information evaluation (13%), formulating a drug therapy plan (15%) and monitoring and modifying the plan (3%). Of the 100 community pharmacists, 98 recommended treatment but none of them provided all the counselling elements studied in implementing the drug therapy plan.ConclusionThe present study showed that community pharmacists within the Klang Valley, Malaysia were not providing adequate pharmaceutical care services to patients seeking self-medication for a cough. Such practice may compromise patient safety if inappropriate medicines or advice are given.

Translating Critical Social Work into Clinical Practice: A Pilot Simulation-Based Study from Canada

ABSTRACTFocused primarily on addressing racial and social injustices through theoretical and critical analysis, critical social work is a well-established paradigm in Canadian social work education. This pilot study explored how clinical social workers might translate critical social work principles into clinical practice. We used simulation-based research methods to observe social workers’ engagement with a Simulated Client (SC; i.e. trained actor). Social workers with at least a Master’s degree (n = 8) were recruited from across Canada to conduct a session with the SC via Zoom followed by a post-session interview to reflect on the session. Data were analyzed inductively, using coding methods from Grounded Theory. The following categories emerged as concrete practice skills informed by critical social work: (1) create and hold a space of safety, (2) take an unassuming position while holding theoretical assumptions, (3) peel off the layers of the presenting problems, and (4) take a non-neutral therapeutic stance. Implications for clinical social work practice and further research are discussed.

The Shape of You, or in Other Words, why Teach Entrepreneurial Awareness as a Clinical Attribute?

Commercial law clinics are not a new phenomenon, and indeed in this very journal reports and academic commentary have been presented which identify and explore the nature, formation and operation of such clinics. However, these contributions focus on how clinics and their student volunteers can help commercial enterprises and start-up ventures with various legal issues they may encounter. Clearly, the need for such clinics and the value they provide to the students and community are immense. Where the clinical offer outlined in this report differs, and on which we hope a meaningful contribution to the body of scholarly knowledge is made, is in using a clinic setting with a simulated corporate client to operate two (elective) modules that enable the students to gain a thorough appreciation of those issues which underpin the formation and operation of a corporate structure. A simulated law firm is the setting through which the modules operate, albeit most of the tasks and issues raised in the modules would equally apply to other professions. By using the simulated client approach we are able to guide the students in helping navigate the client through every aspect of the journey of the business – its inception, the legal sector in which it will operate, its mode of incorporation, its clients and the generation of business, legal policies and issues likely to be faced in respect of running a business, its marketing and advertisement, professional body regulation and compliance, the financing of the business, and an appreciation of the stakeholders (and underlying philosophies) with whom the business and its personnel will engage. This clinical perspective allows the students to proactively develop strategies to navigate the owner through myriad complexities, whilst gaining valuable feedback regarding the efficacy of their decision-making and being empowered to adopt revisions to accommodate numerous changes in the professional, legal and financial environments. The main aim of this clinical experience (which we describe in Section 3) is to develop in the students a commercial awareness and understanding of what is required to be an entrepreneur in a modern legal service setting. This requires moulding their ‘shape’ as a legal graduate.

Development and validation of the interpersonal communication assessment tool for assessing the interpersonal communication skills of public health midwives

BackgroundInterpersonal Communication Skills (IPCS) are one of the core clinical skills that should be developed by the Public Health Midwives (PHMs), who are grass-root level public healthcare providers in primary healthcare settings in Sri Lanka. This study aimed to develop and validate the Interpersonal Communication Assessment Tool (IPCAT), an observational rating scale, to assess the IPCS of PHMs.MethodsItem generation, item reduction, instrument drafting, and development of the tool’s rating guide were made by an expert panel. A cross-sectional study was conducted in five randomly selected Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas, the smallest public health administrative division in the district of Colombo, Sri Lanka, to identify the factor structure, which is the correlational relationship between a number of variables in the tool. A sample of 164 PHMs was recruited. The data on IPCS were collected by video-recording the provider-client interaction using simulated clients. All recorded videos were rated by a rater using the drafted IPCAT, which included a Likert scale of 1(poor) to 5 (excellent). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using the Principal Axis Factoring extraction method and the Varimax rotation technique to explore the factors. Three independent raters were used to rate ten randomly selected videos to assess the tool’s internal consistency and inter-rater reliability.ResultsThe IPCAT obtained a five-factor model with 22 items, and all five factors explained 65% of the total variance. The resulting factors were “Engaging” (six items on making rapport), “Delivering” (four items on paying respect), “Questioning” (four items on asking questions), “Responding” (four items on empathy), and “Ending” (four items to assess the skills of ending a conversation productively). The internal consistency, Cronbach’s Alpha value, for all five factors was above 0.8, and the inter-rater reliability (ICC) was excellent (0.95).ConclusionsThe Interpersonal Communication Assessment Tool is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the interpersonal communication skills of Public Health Midwives.Trial registrationClinical Trial Registry, Sri Lanka. Ref No, SLCTR/2020/006(February 4th,2020)

Toward a Critical Approach to Simulation-Based Social Work Education: Guidelines for Designing Simulated Client Case Scenarios

ABSTRACT The use of simulation has become a staple in social work education in North America. Concerns have been raised, however, that this pedagogy, rooted in positivist views of professional competence, might be built on educators’ monolithic and stereotypical understanding of minoritized clients. In this article, I take on a position that simulation certainly advances social work education; yet there is a vital need for a critical approach that can mitigate concerns about authenticity, representation, and harm. I propose guidelines for educators, which consist of concrete steps, tasks, and reflective questions for how to develop case scenarios from a critical perspective. Finally, I outline remaining concerns and limitations that signal a need for continued advancement of simulation-based social work education.

Evaluating the Counseling Standards and Ability of Pharmacy Staff to Detect Antibiotic-Drugs Interactions: A Simulated Client Study from Pakistan.

Effective and safe medication use can be maximized by providing medication counseling, which aims to optimize therapeutic results. This approach improves the effectiveness of antibacterial treatment, reduces treatment expenses, and mitigates the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. No research from Pakistan has been previously documented. The purpose of this research was to evaluate both the quality of antibiotic counseling provided and the level of understanding exhibited by pharmacy employees with regard to interactions involving antibiotic medications. Using a simulated client method, two scenarios were used to assess 562 pharmacies that were systematically selected. Scenario 1 focused the counseling for use of prescribed medicines with non-prescribed antibiotics. Scenario2 indicated counseling provision for prescribed antibiotics that have possible antibiotic-drug interactions. The evaluation of counseling skills was also conducted. The analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. Only 34.1% of simulated clients received medication counseling directly; 45% received it on request. About 31.2% of clients were referred to a physician without counseling. The most frequently provided information was therapy dose (81.6%) and duration (57.4%). More than half (54.0%) of clients were asked about disease duration, but drug storage was ignored. Insufficient information was provided about side effects (1.1%) and antibiotic-drug interactions (1.4%). Most (54.3%) clients were instructed about dietary or lifestyle modifications. Only 1.9% of clients received information about drug administration route. No information was provided about other medication during therapy, effect of medicine withdrawal, and compliance to medication. The current level of antibiotic counseling within Pakistani community pharmacies is inadequate and requires the attention of medical authorities. Professional training of staff could improve counseling.

Pilot evaluation of a protocol and a clinical tool developed to assess the audiological needs of adults with hearing loss

Objective: To evaluate the Québec Audiological Assessment Protocol for Younger and Older Adults (QAAP-YOA) and its accompanying clinical tool efficacy to assess the needs of individuals with hearing loss in a simulated context. This study is the Phase 2 in the development of the QAAP-YOA. Design: Participants completed two needs assessments with simulated clients and wrote audiological reports, while applying the QAAP-YOA with and without the use of its clinical tool. Interviews were filmed, and reports collected. Both were scored by two independent evaluators. A qualitative analysis of reports was also conducted. Study sample: Eleven audiology students and four early-career audiologists (n = 15). Results: The clinical tool did not influence the interview process since both experimental conditions had similar compliance rates to the protocol (p = 0.114). Compliance rates for assessment reports were higher with the clinical tool (p < 0.001). Participants’ conclusions after applying the QAAP-YOA were consistent across participants. The information provided in the reports was more comprehensive and coherent with the client’s needs when participants used the clinical tool. Conclusions: The QAAP-YOA can lead to a greater standardisation of needs assessments and to more comprehensive reports, which may lead to intervention programs more closely aligned with clients’ needs.

COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS' COMMITMENT TO PREVENTIVE MEASURES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN LIGHT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN BEIRUT, LEBANON: A SIMULATED CLIENT STUDY

The burden on community pharmacists has dramatically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, where the increased number of clients demands adhering to optimal infection protective measures. We aimed to investigate the level of adopted COVID-19 preventative measures by Lebanese community pharmacies and the influencing factors. One hundred community pharmacies in Beirut, were randomly selected and inspected by a simulated client. Signs of face-mask use, declaration of COVID-19 infection, and social distancing were observed in 62%, 48%, and 35% of pharmacies, respectively. Body temperature screening was absent. Only 20% of the pharmacies had limitations for the number of clients, and only 31% offered free disinfectants. Direct pharmacist-patient encounters were observed in 25% of pharmacies. Social distancing among pharmacists was practiced in only 8% of the pharmacies and 37% of pharmacists were not wearing facemasks. Female pharmacists, pharmacists > 40 years, and large pharmacies were associated with a significantly higher score than male pharmacists, younger pharmacists, and smaller pharmacies (‎6.13 ± 1.73‎ vs. ‎4.21 ± 1.70‎, P = 0.004; ‎6.27 ± 1.55‎ vs. ‎4.40 ± 1.75‎, P = 0.03; and ‎6.73 ± 1.66‎ vs. ‎4.1 ± 1.74‎, P = 0.01; respectively). The adherence level of Lebanese community pharmacies to COVID-19 preventive measures is unsatisfactory. The economic crisis in addition to poor pharmacy education about infection control could be behind this level. The authorities are advised to wisely allocate the available resources, strengthen the monitoring process, and revise the pharmacy curriculum to include infection control.