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How Community Pharmacies Evolve During Covid-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 is a pandemic affecting socioeconomics and causing health challenges across the globe. While most clinics start practicing appointments for non-essential care, community pharmacy have become the first choice for patients seeking fast remedies for non-essential care.
So how exactly did community pharmacies in Malaysia evolve in response to COVID-19?
1. Practice social distancing and physical barriers
The markings on the ground re-enforce physical distancing between customers especially during payment and waiting for pharmacy consultations.
These pharmacies also provide hand sanitizers which are freely available for customers and employees.
Moreover, physical barriers such as acrylic glass barriers in front of counter acts as an interception for respiratory droplets from transmitting between staff and customer. Some pharmacies even require their staff to wear face shield and disposable gloves.
2. Adjusting pharmacy services
While most pharmacies adapted by enhancing social distancing, some pharmacies went out of their way by innovating new services.
Among these services are drive-through service, home-delivery service as well as curbside delivery.
These services enable customers to avoid visiting physical stores to get their medications.
Customers may now stay in the comfort of their home or vehicle, minimizing contact while waiting for their medications to be safely delivered.
3. Communication with patients
As pharmacies opt to reduce contact to maintain social distancing, this would mean fewer interactions between pharmacists and their customers.
The communication between pharmacist and their customers is crucial since it could be the pull factor for customers to become repeat customers.
Hence, telepharmacy was introduced. This enables pharmacist and customers to interact virtually and reducing unnecessary visits.
To sum up, community pharmacies have played their part of the community. They go above and beyond to take care of their community and more innovations are encouraged to provide high-quality pharmaceutical care.
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Reference
Pharmaceutical Journal: How to keep community pharmacy running during Covid-19 pandemic