ASHP Statement on the Role of the Pharmacy Workforce in Emergency Preparedness

Assessing the pharmacy workforce's preparedness for a workplace violence event

PURPOSE

The purpose of this article is to describe the planning, implementation, and findings of a "person with a weapon" exercise for an inpatient pharmacy department.

SUMMARY

There has been an increased focus on workplace violence in healthcare within the last few years. The health-system pharmacy workforce should take an active role in planning for workplace violence events by completing a risk assessment analysis and performing tabletop and functional exercises. This study provides an example of how health-system pharmacists collaborated with an emergency management team, security, and communications to carry out a person with a weapon exercise in an inpatient hospital pharmacy. Areas for improvement were identified for pharmacy, communications, and security during education sessions and the tabletop and functional exercises, demonstrating the importance of a multidisciplinary approach when planning for a person with a weapon event. As a result of this exercise, there was increased awareness of the "run, hide, fight" tactic, an increase in workplace violence education and staff awareness, and an enhancement of security measures, including technology improvements.

CONCLUSION

This workplace violence exercise provides an example of how the pharmacy workforce can engage in emergency preparedness planning and risk mitigation for a workplace violence event. Other health systems can use the action plan, findings, and improvements to raise awareness and train about workplace violence events and support the safety of the pharmacy workforce.

Disaster Preparedness Amongst Emergency Pharmacists for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Purpose

The aim of this study is to assess the level of preparedness of pharmacists working in the emergency department at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) for any emergency disasters that may take place during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ by evaluating their awareness (A), attitude (A), and readiness (R).

Methods

A cross-sectional quantitative observational study was conducted through a web-based survey. The survey was distributed among emergency pharmacists working in general hospitals under HMC. The questionnaire was composed of three major domains assessing awareness, attitude, readiness, as well as an additional domain to collect the participants' demographics. Student's t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and linear regression were used with an alpha level of 0.05.

Results

Most pharmacists working in the emergency departments at HMC had high levels of awareness (76.9%), attitude (92%), and readiness (53.8%) for any emergency disasters that may occur during the FIFA World Cup 2022. Nonetheless, almost half of the respondents reported moderate level of readiness for emergency events. Pharmacists with >10 years' practice experience had significantly higher AAR score compared to those with <5 years' experience (P = 0.002). Significant direct positive correlations were found among the 3 AAR parameters (P < 0.05). Attitude was found to be a significant predictor of readiness (P < 0.05). A model composed of attitude and awareness could predict 12% of readiness score.

Conclusion

Emergency pharmacists at HMC have high level of preparedness for any emergency disaster event during the World Cup. Future research should focus on the development of theory-based action framework for pharmacy departments during mass gathering events.