[Integration of a hospital pharmacist in the ICU]

The role of the critical care pharmacist during the COVID-19 pandemic

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The COPIL allowed the restructuring of the ICU in record time to double its capacity.

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The CCP, integrated in the COPIL and already a member of the ICU team for a few years, provided an essential link between the ICU and the pharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The CCP implemented actions to avoid health products shortages, to secure practices and played a key role in the critical analysis of emerging published data in COVID-19 potential treatments.

On January 4 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the emergence of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China due to a new coronavirus, the SARS-CoV-2. A few weeks later, hospitals had to put in place a series of drastic measures to deal with the massive influx of suspected COVID-19 (COronaroVIrus Disease) patients while securing regular patient care, in particular in the intensive care units (ICU). Since March 12th, 77 of the 685 COVID-19 patients admitted to our hospital required hospitalization in the ICU. What are the roles and the added-value of the critical care pharmacist during this period? His missions have evolved although they have remained focused on providing health services for the patients. Indeed, integrated into a steering committee created to organize the crisis in the intensive care units, the role of the clinical pharmacist was focused on the organization and coordination between ICU and the pharmacy, the implementation of actions to secure practices, to train new professionals and the adaptation of therapeutic strategies. He participated to literature monitoring and increased his involvement in the clinical research team. He provided a link between the ICU and the pharmacy thanks to his knowledges of practices and needs.

[Summary]

France was strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with nearly30.000 deaths at the end of June 2020. Referent in infectiology, Begin military teaching hospital has contributed to the management of infected patients. The hospital pharmacy has been fully mobilized in the management of the crisis.