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Sustainable approach for emergencies caused by COVID-19 pandemic in pharmacies in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH)

Background information During the last pandemic, which lasted for more than two years, Agency for Healthcare Quality and Accreditation in FBiH (AKAZ) has realized the importance of a systematic approach to contain the disease, minimize the risk of spreading the infection, and yet provide timely healthcare service to all who need it. For the reasons mentioned above, AKAZ has developed a new set of accreditation standards for healthcare institutions – Standards for emergencies caused by COVID-19 pandemic for primary and secondary healthcare, ver. 2021. The standards were developed in cooperation with healthcare institutions and leading epidemiology healthcare professionals in FBiH and according to World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) guidelines. Since community pharmacies belong to the primary healthcare system with other healthcare institutions, and since pharmacists were the most accessible healthcare professionals for patients during the pandemic, there was a need to pilot these Standards in the pharmacies. Purpose As a sustainable approach in emergencies is essential, the Standards aimed to facilitate systematic admission to the healthcare institutions' readiness to synchronize with one another and act in the same manner whenever needed. That way, all the patients could receive timely and suitable healthcare services in urban and rural areas. Method Following the successful development and implementation of Standards for pharmacies, ver. 2017, and their successful accreditation by The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) several years ago, AKAZ has decided to apply the same approach in pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention was to develop a pilot project to introduce the novel Standards, with further recommendations for their roll-out across the FBiH. The previously accredited private pharmacy "Nera" in Visoko (a small city with approx. 42.000 citizens) has served as the reference pharmacy and model for effective implementation of WHO and ECDC recommendations. It also helped as a source of information that several criteria were not applicable in pharmacies or needed minor changes to be fully functional. A further goal is to encourage other pharmacies to meet the Standards and requirements on health care provision readiness for challenging times such as pandemics. Results The Standards have been published publicly on the AKAZ website, along with the information that implementation of the standards has been tested under a pilot phase and that suggestions and comments are welcome. Several other private and public healthcare institutions have already contacted AKAZ to announce immediate standards implementation readiness. Conclusions The "Nera" pharmacy's participation and contribution have been a significant asset to this project, not only in terms of the development of the Standards but also concerning the proper implementation of the Standards in community pharmacies and recommendations. Our experience with abovenamed pharmacy has proved that pharmacies in low and middle-income countries can also mobilize sufficient funds and afford at very minimum essential requirements of healthcare provision to patients in need, even during the most challenging times.

sustainable approach ; emergency ; COVID-19

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