Wuhan coronavirus outbreak: FIP issues guidelines for pharmacists

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has released a 29-page health advisory document to guide pharmacists worldwide on how to manage the 2019-nCoV outbreak within their spaces.

Titled ‘Coronavirus 2019-nCoV outbreak: Information and interim guidelines for pharmacists and the pharmacy workforce’, the document shared by the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) Facebook page gives a comprehensive overview of clinical information regarding onset, symptoms, treatment, stock management, and prevention of the disease.

It also provides an extensive list of recommendations for pharmacy-mediated preventive measures, recommended equipment to stock, advice for pharmacists to give to members of the public, triage and referral procedures, and laboratory testing measures.

The full document from the FIP can be downloaded online in six languages at https://www.fip.org/coronavirus and is subject to updates given ongoing developments in the global situation.

The document was developed by an emergency taskforce set up by the FIP, with contributions from the experiences of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

“Since pharmacies are often the first point of contact with the health system and given that cases have already been seen in a number of countries, it is important that the whole pharmacy workforce is well informed and prepared,” said Jane Dawson, FIP taskforce chair and secretary of FIP’s Military and Emergency Pharmacy Section.

The FIP will also hold a webinar titled ‘Coronavirus 2019-nCoV: How can pharmacists help control the outbreak?’ on Monday 10 February at 08:30 CET (15:30 Malaysian time), to be repeated at 17:00 CET (00:00 Malaysian Time), with registration available at http://bit.ly/2S5KSnc.

Eds: Since publication, the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses has named the Wuhan coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2, while the respiratory disease associated with it has been named COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19). [ICTV 2020;preprint available at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.07.937862v1.full.pdf]