Pandemic Brings Out the Best in Clinical Pharmacy

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Under the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pharmacy department at North Shore University Hospital, in Manhasset, NY, implemented a number of changes to urgently meet the institution’s patient care needs. To address the hospital’s sudden increase in the number of intensive care units (ICU) from 5 to 11, clinical pharmacists that were covering non-ICU services (such as transplant, oncology, and internal medicine) were redeployed to the newly opened ICUs. The clinical pharmacy leadership and ICU clinical pharmacists created a quick reference guide and provided in-service training to help prepare the redeployed clinicians for their ICU duties. Although some clinical pharmacists were working remotely, use of virtual meetings and group texts helped address critical care questions in real time. Pharmacy residents were also recruited to help cover the ICUs. Meanwhile, research activity increased rapidly, with the need to enroll more than 200 patients in 4 different clinical trials within a single month. Therefore, several clinical and staff pharmacists were reassigned to work with the department’s research pharmacist to help manage the new trials. A large number of the clinical staff were involved in these activities, including Nadine Breslin, Sebastian Choi, Valerie Demekhin, Nicholas Jandovitz, Rubiya Kabir (Assistant Director of Clinical Services), Susan Lee, Amanda Lin, Evelyn Luo, and Elizabeth Mathew. Rubiya commented in her submission of this report, “As devastating as the pandemic has been, it has truly brought out the best in our pharmacy team members.”