A rapid realist synthesis of community pharmacy support for the public health agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic and future health emergencies

Project Description

Background: Community pharmacy has a key role to play in the current COVID-19 pandemic, for example vaccination, medication supply and providing advice. This project uses an approach called “realist synthesis” to understand how community pharmacy can most effectively support the battle against COVID-19. From this, advice and guidance will be produced, which will benefit all.
Planned Methods: We will learn lessons from what has already been written and add to this by interviewing people (members of the public, community pharmacy staff and GPs) with experience and knowledge.
1. Literature Review. We will use a particular method of literature review (“realist review”) that is ideally suited to making sense of complex situations, such as the role of community pharmacy in COVID-19. Documents with information on the ways that community pharmacy can support the battle against COVID-19 will be found. From these documents we will work out ‘what works for whom, when, how and why?’
2. Interviews. These will build on and expand the literature review; if the interviews identify new areas we will go back and review the literature in that area. Community pharmacy staff, members of the public and GPs will be asked how community pharmacy can support the battle against COVID-19.
Finally, we will combine what has already been written with information from the interviews to develop policy guidance.
Dissemination (sharing what we find): We will share our findings and suggestions with patients, policy-makers, community pharmacy and GPs. The key “end product” will be guidelines for community pharmacists on how to support the battle against COVID-19; we will aim to produce this as rapidly as possible. We will work with key professional bodies specifically, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, to disseminate the guidelines to pharmacists across the UK.