The COVID-19 epidemic has affected every area of life. The greatest challenge has been to adapt the functioning of the health service to prevent the spread of the epidemic and to help infected patients. This has required the involvement of not only doctors and nurses, but also pharmacists. In the face of this pandemic, governments in many countries have granted pharmacists greater authority. The purpose of this paper is to review the legal extension of the role of pharmacists in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The review considers recent changes in European countries, Canada, and the United States. A literature review was performed to summarise knowledge about the extension of the role of pharmacists during the pandemic period. Key articles were retrieved mainly from PubMed and Google Scholar, using the terms "COVID-19", "2019-nCoV", "coronavirus", and "pandemic" in combination with "pharmacist" as keywords for our search. We included scientific publications from February 1, 2019 to May 15, 2020. Pharmacists have been given numerous opportunities so that they can actively join in the fight against the virus. Some of the novel legal extensions aimed at aiding overloaded healthcare systems are as follows: authorisation to prepare hand and surface disinfectants, eligibility to renew chronic treatment prescriptions, as well as filling pro auctore and pro familia prescriptions by pharmacists, performing COVID-19, influenza, and Group A Streptococcus screening tests, and vaccine administration. Moreover, many countries have facilitated Internet services, such as virtual medical consultations, e-prescriptions, and home drug delivery - to promote social distancing among patients. To mitigate drug shortages, the following strategies have been implemented: alternative sourcing, strength, generic, or therapeutic substitution, and preparing compounded formulations at the pharmacy. Novel legal extensions have allowed exploitation of the full potential ofpharmacists worldwide, aiding the limited resources of overloaded healthcare systems.

Background: Professional pharmacists should be directly involved in patient healthcare as members of therapeutic teams are not the only dispensers of medication. Public perceptions of the professional role of pharmacists is expressed through patients’ attitudes, trust, and expectations as health and illness consultants, or qualified retailers of medicines. This perception is influenced by numerous determinants, both health-related and social. Objective: This research intends to describe the range of social roles pharmacists play from the perspective of potential pharmacy customers/patients. Methods: The data presented in the article comes from cross-sectional survey-based research, undertaken in 2018, on a representative sample of 600 Polish adults. Results: Over-the-counter medication is purchased by almost all Polish adults, but they do not tend to ask for advice at pharmacies. Most respondents consider a pharmacist to be “a person qualified to sell medicines”, with some of the participants regarding pharmacists as “ordinary retailers”. A small number of respondents are interested in benefiting from pharmaceutical care, but the pharmacy is still perceived to be a point of purchase for medication. Conclusions: Respondents do not treat pharmacists as health advisors and reduce its role to that of dispensing medication. Sociodemographic variables have no significant effect on social perception of pharmacists.

Over the past few decades, there has been a dynamic development of biobanks collecting human biological material and data. Advances in biomedical research based on biobanks, however, are highly dependent on the successful enrolment and participation of human subjects. Therefore, it is crucial to recognise those factors affecting the willingness of individuals to participate in biomedical research. There are very few studies pointing to the role of trust, preferred values and specific psychological factors. The aim of our study was the analysis of the most significant relationships between selected moral and psychological variables (i.e., preferred values, types of trust and personality) and willingness to donate biological material to biobanks. The research was carried out on a Polish representative national sample of 1100 people over 18 years of age. Statistical methods with regression models were used during the analyses. The willingness to donate samples to a biobank was associated with different types of trust and specific values. Based on regression analysis, the most important factors related to the willingness to donate material to biobanks seemed to be (1) trust towards scientists and doctors and (2) selected preferred values such as knowledge, self-development and tradition. Other values or personality traits did not seem to be as important in this context. The obtained results can be useful in building the social responsibility of biobankers and scientists, issuing more appropriate opinions by research ethics committees and planning better communication strategies between participants and biobanks.

Background: There is a lack of research on social image, prestige, and the position of the paramedic profession in the social structure. The main objective of the study was to determine the place of the paramedic profession in the hierarchy of prestige of professions as viewed by the public. In operationalizing the term ‘prestige’, we deemed the word ‘respect’ to best fit the sense of the subjective evaluation of prestige with regard to a profession. Material and methods: The data comes from cross-sectional survey-based research. The research was carried out on a group of 600 people over 18 years of age. The sample was of a random nature, and the selection of respondents was calculated on the basis of them being representative of the Polish population. Results: The median of respect declared for the paramedic profession, on a scale of 1 to 5, was 4.49, which placed the profession in fourth place in the ranking. The assessment of respect for paramedics among other medical professions placed them in third place, directly after doctors and midwifes. Conclusions: The profession of paramedic is characterized by high social prestige, locating it at the forefront of the medical profession and other examined professions, but its social position, expressed by objective measures (earnings, structural possibilities, social power), is significantly lower.

Background: The dynamic character of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social consequences caused several medical and societal issues and dilemmas. The aim of our qualitative research was to capture and analyze attitudes and beliefs of convalescents who experienced mild symptoms of COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic and decided to donate their plasma for therapeutic purposes. Material and Methods: The article presents results of qualitative research conducted on the basis of grounded theory (GT) methodology. Empirical material includes 10 in-depth interviews conducted with respondents who had mild or asymptomatic disease and, after recovery, voluntarily donated their plasma to the Regional Centre for Blood Donation and Blood Treatment (RCKiK). Data were collected in May and June 2020 in Poland. Qualitative analysis was focused on the experience of convalescents who entered the social role of a sick person in individual, social, and organizational dimensions. Results: The social role of the patient in the narratives of convalescents was related to three stages: (1) initiation to the role, (2) staying in the COVID-19 patient role, and (3) leaving the role. Research results enabled the distinction of three basic descriptive categories (“ontological uncertainty”, “the global and individual dimension”, and “being sick in the disease-infected environment”), which became epistemological framework for a detailed description of the roles played by an individual COVID-19 patient during the pandemic. Conclusions: The disease, despite its mild course, generated a number of non-medical issues, and the entire process of being ill was burdened with institutional and emotional struggles. The experience of mild COVID-19 is significantly modified by disease institutionalization. These results may contribute to a better understanding of the psychosocial dimension of COVID-19 and convalescents’ motivations for plasma donation.

DOI: 10.20452/pamw.15129, Published online: January 09, 2020, Authors: Renata Bogusz, Luiza Nowakowska, Anita Majchrowska, Michał Wiechetek, Włodzimierz Piątkowski, Jakub Pawlikowski