Nicola Luigi Bragazzi|Muhammad Mansour|Alessandro Bonsignore|Rosagemma Ciliberti
The Role of Hospital and Community Pharmacists in the Management of COVID-19: Towards an Expanded Definition of the Roles, Responsibilities, and Duties of the Pharmacist
York University|University of Genoa|Western Galilee Hospital|Bar-Ilan University|St. Michael's Hospital|University of Toronto|University of Genoa|University of Genoa
since late december 2019 novel emerging coronavirus identified infectious agent responsible generally mild sometimes severe even lifethreatening disease termed coronavirus disease 2019 covid19 pathogen initially named 2019 novel coronavirus 2019ncov later renamed severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 sarscov2 covid19 quickly spread first epicenter city wuhan province hubei mainland china neighboring countries became global pandemic july 15th 2020 outbreak still ongoing sarscov2 affecting 213 countries territories coronavirus caused dramatic toll deaths imposed severe burden societal economic point view covid19 challenged health systems straining overwhelming healthcare facilities settings including hospital community pharmacies hand covid19 propelled several changes last decades pharmacy shifted productsbased patientfacing servicesbased patientcentered pharmacies transitioned compounding centers devoted manipulation materia medica pharmaceutical centers clinical pharmacies fully integrated medicalpharmaceutical networks providing significant range nonprescribing services moreover roles duties responsibilities pharmacists paralleled historical changes known gradual expansion incorporating new skills reflecting new societal demands challenges covid19 outbreak unearthed new opportunities pharmacists community hospital pharmacists indeed played key role covid19 pandemic suggesting fully integrated intersectoral interprofessional collaboration necessary face crises public health emergencies preliminary emerging evidence seems suggest probably new era history pharmacies postcovid19 postpharmaceutical care era begun community pharmacists acquiring professional standing authentic heroes frontline health workers