Safety and prevention: measures to adopt in pharmacies

Unlike other public services and companies, pharmacies remained open during the State of Emergency. However, with the decree of the Deconfinement Plan and the gradual return to normality, pharmacies are forced to adapt their service to respond to demand, ensuring all necessary safety and prevention measures. Discover, in this article, how to implement the guidelines and practices recommended by the Government, ensuring the safety of your users and your team of professionals.

Reinforce social distancing

The Government's safety and prevention guidelines point to a distance of two meters between workers and users inside closed spaces. In this sense, pharmacy teams should consider how they can enforce this recommendation, taking into account the safety of high-risk users (individuals aged 70 or over and people with an underlying health condition).

Safety and prevention measures

• Affix physical barriers to doors orservice counters.
• Install temporary service counters or acrylic sheets;
• Limit access to certain areas of thepharmacy;
• Post safety signs on the pavement, defining the route that must be respected;
• Install dispensers of any alcohol-based antiseptic solution (SABA), such as Slimmer, at the entrance to your establishment.

Limit interaction

Regardless of the precautions taken to protect your team, there will likely be some interaction with patrons. Delivering medicines, receiving payments or reading prescriptions are unavoidable activities. However, in order to reduce interactions between individuals and ensure safety and prevention, you can take the following measures:

• Encourage your users to pay using thecontactless technology;
• Consider giving your users the option of calling to order certain medicines or parapharmacy products. This way, they will be able to collect them at a previously determined time, ensuring a reduction in the number of users in the store and speeding up the provision of services.
• Find ways to have more space between employees and adopt an Open Space policy. Temporarily, it will be possible to ensure appropriate social distancing, while also reducing the possibility of infection among users and staff.

Pharmacy project already adapted to new requirements.

(Re)Consider the way you communicate with the public

Even during confinement, users will continue to request and seek the services provided by pharmacies. However, many are beginning to reconsider the way they present themselves and communicate with the public, especially during this first phase of deconfinement. Therefore, there are several pharmacies that seek to inform their users about the safety and prevention measures that they must adopt to efficiently avoid contagion. This can be done in several ways. Here are some tips:

• Emphasize information: place notices in your pharmacy and inform the public about the main services, ensuring that only those who need to enter the store do so.
• Place posters or information leaflets in prominent places: disseminate relevant information about Covid-19 and the prevention measures recommended by the Government;
• Instruct your users to call the pharmacy instead of showing up in person;
• Implement measures tohygiene.

If your pharmacy has a Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or website page, you can use these means to disseminate valuable information, for example:

• Indicate the most appropriate time to visit the pharmacy;
• Guide your users to monitor symptoms, indicating what to do and how to do it;
• Disclose details about risk groups and the importance of isolation.

Keep the team of professionals active

In the coming weeks or months, your pharmaceutical team will have to go beyond their usual role. Reason that justifies the implementation of safety and prevention measures capable of ensuring that she continues to be able to work, being fully capable of fulfilling the requirements of her role, for example:

• Advise your team on the behaviors they should adopt to minimize the risk of infection;
• Ensure that everyone can fulfill the requirements of their roles without becoming overwhelmed or exhausted;
• Adopt strict hygiene measures adjusted to your commercial space;
• Ensure that workers most at risk – such as those with neurological, chronic respiratory conditions or diabetes – have little or no direct contact with patients.
• Make sure your team of pharmacists has the ability to continueteleworking, if there is a possibility of contagion, for any reason;
• Make personal protective material available to the entire team of pharmacists (such as gloves, visors or masks).