The Front Line Against COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has staggered the world.

Schools are closed. Churches, synagogues, and mosques have stopped in-person services. Theaters and restaurants are no longer serving. Professional and amateur sports have postponed or cancelled seasons. The measure of our response is one measure of the pandemic’s potential severity.

Most pharmacists got into the profession because they wanted to make a difference in the world. An outbreak like COVID-19 shows why pharmacists can do just that.

What are pharmacists doing to help combat COVID-19?

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists published a sample list of pharmacy public health roles, including:

Patient Care

• Provide care and information for a patient surge
• Report patient surges to public health officials
• Triage sick patients barred from hospital
• Provide education and drug administration and dosing guidelines for medical and nursing staff

Education and Communication

• Give guidance and instruction for home quarantine
• Encourage patients to get the influenza vaccine to reduce concomitant disease
• Report supply chain disruption to local/state health departments

Practice and Public Health

• Determine mechanisms for obtaining drugs not available on market
• Develop rapid response kits for supportive care and as investigational therapies emerge
• Collaborate with microbiologists and other key players to provide interprofessional expertise
• Educate – and practice – infection prevention and control

MUSC in Front Line of South Carolina Healthcare

When South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced the first drastic measures the state would take to contain the coronavirus outbreak, he reassured the public that the Federal Drug Administration had approved the Medical University of South Carolina for COVID-19 testing.  

As the state’s premier academic medical system, MUSC is an important resource for dealing with the outbreak. For example, MUSC opened up MUSC Health Virtual Urgent Care through which members of the community can get online care by MUSC doctors and providers. Virtual COVID-19 screenings are free. By providing this service, MUSC reduces the strain on a hospital system laboring under the burden of treating so many people at once.

The leadership of the MUSC enterprise works closely with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and other government entities to minimize the COVID-19 impact as much as possible. At the same time, MUSC pharmacists work to maximize the effectiveness of current measures against it. The MUSC pharmacy family includes pharmacy clinicians with clinical service areas in places that are treating infected or potentially infected patients, and pharmacy researchers lend their expertise on infection, inflammation, and other areas that may provide a key to beating the disease.