Rising to the challenge: Pharmacy residents on the frontlines during COVID-19 pandemic

Autor: Emma Uchida, John Marshall, Bianca Long-Fazio, Christopher R. Fortier
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy: AJHP
American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
ISSN: 1535-2900
1079-2082
Popis: Disclaimer In an effort to expedite the publication of articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic, AJHP is posting these manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. Purpose To provide pharmacy residents’ perspective on how the department of pharmacy at a large academic medical center prepared and managed the surge in admissions of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), to describe how residents were trained for intensive care unit (ICU) staffing, and to provide recommendations on how residency programs nationally could navigate a second wave of COVID-19 admissions or other disaster response situations. Summary The majority of postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy residents at the institution were trained for ICU staffing and deployed throughout the hospital to ICU units converted to dedicated COVID-19 ICUs to assist in patient care. The training process included live videoconference lectures about relevant ICU topics and on-site experiences with critical care clinical pharmacists. Based on their experience in training for and participating in ICU care of patients with COVID-19, the pharmacy residents recommend considering additional cross-training of residents, integration of additional clinical education, creation of opportunities for resident involvement in telehealth, advancement of residents’ roles in emergency responses, building robust mental health services, and continued advocacy for the advancement of pharmacists’ and pharmacy residents’ scope of practice. Conclusion The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the institution to reevaluate the allocation of resources, and the department of pharmacy elected to deploy PGY1 pharmacy residents with previous ICU experience to assist in caring for an ICU patient census that had doubled. This experience will be valuable in preparing for another potential wave of COVID-19 cases and a surge in admissions of other groups of patients who deferred care due to the pandemic.
Databáze: OpenAIRE