Optimizing Pharmaceutical Care For COVID-19 Patients: Pharmacist’s Intervention in Disaster Management Zone, Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 in Malaysia has led to the establishment of a Disaster Management Zone (DMZ) in Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital (TMAFH) by the Malaysian Armed Forces. Equipped with 250 beds, electrical supply, oxygen and vacuum ports and other medical support facilities, DMZ had become a full-fledged COVID-19 Category 4 and 5 ward in July 2021. During the operation of DMZ from 9 July 2021 to 27 August 2021, pharmacists were actively engaged in the daily operation of DMZ. A total of 129 prescription errors were identified and documented. Different types of prescribing errors and their frequencies detected were as follows: wrong frequency (31.8%), wrong dose (23.5%), wrong drug selection (18.6%), wrong duration (11.6%), missed dose (8.5%), polypharmacy (4.7%), drug interaction (0.8%) and wrong patient (0.8%). Interventions were done by pharmacists to address all these errors. This shows that pharmacists have an important role in optimizing pharmaceutical care for patients during a pandemic.