Pharma-ccc: How Integrating A Pharmacist Into The Network Covid Care Centre (ccc) Benefited South Australia’s State-wide Pandemic Response.

• By: KOLOPELNYK, Cara (Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN), a part of the South Australian Public Hospital Service (SA Pharmacy), Australia)
• Co-author(s): Ms Cara Kolopelnyk (Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN), SA Pharmacy, Adelaide, Australia)
  
• Abstract:

  Background:
  COVID-19 continues to be a devastating pandemic experienced around the world. The pandemic response within a large Adelaide metropolitan health network included the development of a dedicated COVID Care Centre (CCC), which provided outpatient COVID-19 treatment to the greater Adelaide community, as well as COVID-19 related hospital avoidance.
  
  Action:
  A dedicated pharmacist was integrated into the COVID Care Centre, a service model unique to South Australia. The pharmacist was essential in ensuring ongoing CCC service provision, promoting evidence-based practice in an area of rapidly evolving information, and facilitating timely and efficient COVID-19 treatment access, which contributed to medication safety and hospital avoidance. No other state or territory in Australia had a specialised CCC, instead employing a hospital or general practitioner-led COVID-19 response, without including a dedicated pharmacist.
  
  Discussion:
  The CCC pharmacist supported the health network pioneer many areas of outpatient COVID-19 management in Australia. They were successful in increasing consumer access and prescriber understanding of novel, complex, and heavily restricted COVID-19 treatments in South Australia. Furthermore, the pharmacist’s role in managing logistical stock issues, communicating evidence changes, upskilling primary healthcare prescribers, developing workflows, and expanding CCC capacity through other initiatives (such as utilising “Hospital in the Home” for at-home treatment administration and supporting CCC establishments in other networks) was invaluable.
  
  Implications:
  Integration of a pharmacist into a pandemic response service such as the CCC can provide significant benefit to consumers and the greater healthcare system. Pharmacists should be considered in future integrated care and pandemic response models.