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Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

New Practitioners Network

by Natalie R. Tucker, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP; Chair, New Practitioners Network; Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Antimicrobial Stewardship, HSHS St. John's Hospital

It’s not new information that our world is facing a new pandemic due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for causing coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As our fellow nurses and providers are preparing for an influx of patients, you might be wondering – what more can we do as pharmacists to help our colleagues and patients during this time?

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) published a statement on the role of health-system pharmacists in emergency preparedness.¹ While this document is geared towards responding to natural, industrial, and biological disasters, the same principles can be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacists play key roles in many aspects of emergency and disaster care including:

Obtaining medications
Storing, labeling, and dispensing medications
Developing guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of affected patients
Consulting with providers on treatment for individual patients
Advising the public on the appropriate use of medications in response to disasters

These recommendations may seem like part of your normal daily tasks, and in fact they are! One key fact to remember is that we already have the necessary skills to perform these duties. During pharmacy school, residency training, and in our daily work, we use these skills every day whether we realize it or not.

Want to do more? Here is what else you can do to prepare.

Educate yourself on your local and institutional plans for emergency preparedness
Share evidence-based recommendations for treatments with colleagues
Act assertively to prevent panic and irrational responses to disasters
Obtain basic cardiac life support (BCLS) certification through the American Heart Association
Obtain Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery certification through the American Pharmacists Association

Interested in learning more? Check out an excellent review of the treatment of biologic threats available at https://accpjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/phar.2068.2 In the meantime, stay safe and healthy! In the words of Queen and David Bowie – this is ourselves…under pressure.

References

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. ASHP statement on the role of health-system pharmacists in emergency preparedness. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2003;60:1993-1995.
Narayann N, Lacy CR, Cruz JE, et al. Disaster preparedness: biological threats and treatment options. Pharmacotherapy. 2018;38(2):217-234.