Development and Challenges of Telepharmacy in the Context of COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: Telepharmacy is a modality of remote pharmaceutical service that uses information and communication technologies and can be developed at the hospital or community level, following the procedures of an already established pharmaceutical service.

Objective: To analyze the development of telepharmacy worldwide at the hospital and community level during COVID-19 and the challenges for its implementation.

Methods: A narrative review was conducted, searches were performed in two databases using keywords, for PubMed: telepharmacy AND ("COVID-19"[Mesh] OR COVID-19 OR SARS Coronavirus 2 OR Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2); and for Ovid Embase: (telepharmacy OR telepharmacies) AND ("COVID-19" OR COVID-19 OR SARS Coronavirus 2 OR Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2); from December 2019 to May 2021.

Conclusions: During the pandemic in developed countries, the use of telepharmacy related to remote health care services in hospital and community settings has been boosted, and where there are still challenges for its implementation due to technological barriers, cost of devices, education of the population and, above all, training of professionals, as well as the need for further original studies describing the humanistic, clinical and economic benefits for its implementation.