Impact of telepharmacy during COVID-19 on patients’ outcome during COVID-19: a systematic literature review
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Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to be a major global public health issue. COVID-19 is highly contagious, and numerous mitigation strategies have recently been implemented to prevent the spread of this disease. Pharmacists utilize telecommunication technology to provide patient care services, thus increasing patient access to pharmaceutical services. There was a scarcity of evidence regarding the impact of telepharmacy on patient outcomes during COVID-19. Therefore, the aim of this study was to summarize the available research evidence on the impact of telepharmacy on patient outcomes during COVID-19. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted between January 2020 to September 2022 in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, using appropriate terms on telepharmacy, COVID-19, and patient outcomes. Only studies that investigated the impact of telepharmacy on patient outcomes during COVID-19 were included. A systematic literature search was conducted between January 2020 to September 2022 in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, using appropriate terms on telepharmacy, COVID-19, and patient outcomes. Only studies that investigated the impact of telepharmacy on patient outcomes during COVID-19 were included. Results: A total of three studies were included in the review. The telepharmacy services were offered via virtual anticoagulation clinic, retail community telepharmacy through information technology tools, and RxLive® telepharmacy program. All studies included in the review demonstrated that the provision of telepharmacy services during COVID-19 had an overall positive impact on the patient outcomes such as a reduction in the rates of hospitalisation and medication-related problems and maintaining the international normalized ratio values within the therapeutic range. Conclusion: This review provides evidence that telepharmacy services have been successful in improving patient outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including reductions in medicines-related problems and hospitalization rates. As the pandemic continues, there is an urgent need to further expand telepharmacy services, using modern communication technologies such as televideo, especially for patients living in remote areas. There is a need to conduct further pre-post-intervention studies to address this gap.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Dalal Salem Al-Dossari , King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Pharmaceutical Care Services, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Fuad Khulaif Alharbi , Pharmaceutical Care Services, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Hamdan Alharbi, Pharmaceutical Care Services, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Saud Alotaibi , Pharmaceutical Care Services, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Anam Farooq, Department of Pharmacy, Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia