Wellbeing and Stress Coping among Healthcare and Pharmacy Workers: Experiences during the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Lithuania.

(1) Background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals faced psychological and social challenges in addition to a sharp increase in workload. The aim of this work was to reveal how healthcare and pharmacy workers assessed their wellbeing and the methods of coping they employed to overcome stress during quarantine. (2) Methods. The mixed-method study was conducted between August and October 2020, integrating quantitative (n = 967) and qualitative (n = 27) strategies. Doctors, nurses, healthcare administrative staff, pharmacy specialists, and other employees of the healthcare system were interviewed retrospectively about their experiences during and following lockdown (March-June 2020). (3) Results. Overall, 38.7% of the respondents reported a decrease in psychological wellbeing, while 23.4% of the respondents reported a decrease in physical wellbeing during quarantine. The healthcare professionals' narratives identified a shift from nonspecific fears at the beginning of the pandemic to the more concrete fear of contracting COVID-19, of infecting others, and about their loved ones, as well as undifferentiated fear. Multivariate analysis revealed that a subjective decrease in wellbeing was typical in professionals who had had direct contact with patients infected with COVID-19, as well as those with stronger fears, and those who were more likely to employ compulsive distancing and substance use as ways to cope with stress. (3) Conclusions. The results suggest that lockdown had a negative impact on healthcare workers' wellbeing during the first pandemic wave in 2020.

How Does the Assessment of Work Organization during the COVID-19 Pandemic Relate to Changes in the Well-Being of Health System Workers?

In the case of various emergencies, especially pandemics, healthcare workers are faced with disproportionate pressures. Organizational support plays a significant role in protecting the psychological and physical health of healthcare workers. This interdisciplinary research aims to determine how changes in the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown are related to work organization factors that support safety and stability. A quantitative research strategy was applied in the research. Data from an electronic survey assessed the changes in the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers during the lockdown period and the organizational factors supporting safety and stability. The sample of the quantitative research consisted of 967 employees of healthcare institutions and pharmacies in Lithuania. This research broadens the concept of organizational factors and provides data on their interaction with the changes of employee well-being indicators in a pandemic situation. It was found that positive changes in the evaluation of physical as well as psychological well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown could be consistently predicted by all the analyzed safety and stability supporting organizational factors that were found to be associated with subjective physical well-being and psychological well-being even when adjusting for the effect of socio-demographic factors (gender, age, work field, and specialty). The identification and proper management of organizational factors was significant for the psychological and physical well-being of healthcare workers during the lockdown period. It was found that all estimates of safety and stability supporting organizational factors during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown were positively related and could act as protective factors to the subjective physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers.

The prevalence of self-reported underuse of medications due to cost for the elderly: results from seven European urban communities.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of self-reported underuse of medications due to procurement costs amongst older persons from seven European urban communities. METHODS: The data were collected in a cross-sectional study ("ABUEL, Elder abuse: A multinational prevalence survey") in 2009. Randomly selected people aged 60-84 years (n = 4,467) from seven urban communities: Stuttgart (Germany), Athens (Greece), Ancona (Italy), Kaunas (Lithuania), Porto (Portugal), Granada (Spain) and Stockholm (Sweden) were interviewed. Response rate - 45.2%. Ethical permission was received in each country. RESULTS: The results indicate that 3.6% (n = 162) of the respondents self-reported refraining from buying prescribed medications due to cost. The highest prevalence of this problem was identified in Lithuania (15.7%, n = 99) and Portugal (4.3%, n = 28). Other countries reported lower percentages of refraining from buying medications (Germany - 2.0%, Italy - 1.6%, Sweden - 1.0%, Greece - 0.6%, Spain - 0.3%). Females refrained more often from buying medications than males (2.6% vs. 4.4%, p < 0.0001). The prevalence of this refraining tended to increase with economic hardship. DISCUSSION: These differences between countries can be only partly described by the financing of health-care systems. In spite of the presence of cost reimbursement mechanisms, patients need to make co-payments (or in some cases to pay the full price) for prescribed medications. This indicates that the purchasing power of people in 10.1186/s12913-015-1089-4 the particular country can play a major role and be related with the economic situation in the country. Lithuania, which has reported the highest refrain rates, had the lowest gross domestic product (at the time of conducting this study) of all participating countries in the study. CONCLUSIONS: Refraining from buying the prescribed medications due to cost is a problem for women and men in respect to ageing people in Europe. Prevalence varies by country, sex, and economic hardship.

Factors associated with refraining from buying prescribed medications among older people in Europe.

AIM: To evaluate the associations between refraining from buying prescribed medications and selected factors among older persons. METHODS: A total of 4467 people aged 60-84 years from seven European countries answered a questionnaire (response rate 45.2%). Refraining from buying prescribed medications was measured with the question: 'Have you ever refrained from buying prescribed medication and care?' RESULTS: About 11.9% of older people refrained from buying prescribed medications. The multiple regression analysis showed that ages 60-64 (odds ratio (OR) = 2.08; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.38-3.13) and 65-69 (OR = 1.73; 95%CI: 1.16-2.57) years, experience of financial strain (OR = 1.59; 95%CI: 1.27-2.01), as well as exposure to abuse (OR = 1.64; 95%CI: 1.31-2.06) when taking into account country of participant were independently associated with refraining from buying medications, while an opposite association was observed for being male (OR = 0.72; 95%CI: 0.58-0.91). CONCLUSIONS: The study found that refraining from buying prescription medications is a problem among older people and identified a number of factors associated with this.

Somatic complaints and refrain from buying prescribed medications. Results from a cross-sectional study on people 60 years and older living in Kaunas (Lithuania).

BACKGROUND: The use of medicines by elderly people is a growing area of concern in social pharmacy. A significant proportion of older people do not follow the recommendations from physicians and refrain from buying prescribed medications. The aim of this study is to evaluate associations between self-rated health, somatic complaints and refraining from buying prescribed medications by elderly people. FINDINGS: Data was collected in a cross-sectional study in 2009. We received 624 completed questionnaires (response rate - 48.9%) from persons aged 60-84 years living in Kaunas (Lithuania). Somatic complaints were measured with the 24 item version of the Giessen Complaint List (GBB-24). Logistic regression (Enter model) was used for evaluation of the associations between refraining from buying medications and somatic complaints. These associations were measured using odds ratio (OR) and calculating the 95% confidence interval (CI).The mean scores in total for the GBB scale and sub-scales (exhaustion, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular) were lowest among respondents who did not refrain from buying prescribed medications (means for GBB-24 scale: 21.04 vs. 24.82; p=0.001). Logistic regression suggests that somatic complaints were associated with a increased risk of refraining from buying prescribed medications (OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.15-1.60). CONCLUSIONS: Somatic complaints were significantly associated with the decision to refrain from buying prescribed medications.

Causes of refraining from buying prescribed medications among the elderly in Kaunas, Lithuania.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Accessibility to medications among the elderly is a source of concern in Lithuania and beyond. However, there are no studies carried out on this topic in Lithuania. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the causes of refraining from buying prescribed medications among the elderly in Kaunas, Lithuania. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data were collected in a cross-sectional ABUEL study in 2009. A total of 624 filled-in questionnaires (response rate, 48.9%) from the elderly aged 60-84 years living in Kaunas (Lithuania) were received. For evaluation of the impact of explanatory variables on the analyzed event (binary dependent variable), an Enter model of logistic regression was used. RESULTS: The study showed that 32.7% of the respondents refrained from buying prescribed medications. The most common reasons (respondents could select several options) for this decision were financial problems (48.0%), disappearance of problems (40.7%), and fear of side effects (22.5%). Refraining from buying prescribed medications was positively associated with age (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.99). Higher education was associated with a reduced risk of refraining from buying prescribed medications due to financial problems (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.78) and an increased risk of refraining from buying medications due to the disappearance of health problems (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.68). An opposite association with worries about daily expenses was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Study has revealed that one-third of the elderly refrained from buying prescribed medications, and the main reasons for this were financial problems and disappearance of health problems.

[The directions of the activity of the Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists in 1922-1940]. / Lietuvos vaistininku draugijos veiklos kryptys 1922-1940 metais.

The aim of this work is to examine the directions of the activity of the Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists in 1922-1940. When preparing this work archive documents, the publications of the magazine "Pharmaceutical News" and other periodical press was investigated. In the independent Republic of Lithuania (1918-1940) four professional pharmaceutical organizations were active. The most influential one was the Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists, established on September 18, 1922, where only owners of pharmacies could become its real members. This organization united about 80% of owners of pharmacies in all the country. The main directions of the activity of the Society were the following: active participation in the creation of a legitimate basis of pharmacy, concern for the interests and ethics of its members, publication, participation in an international activity. The Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists belonged to the International Pharmaceutical Federation (IPF), and established the Society of Baltic Pharmacists together with societies of Latvian and Estonian pharmacists in 1938. The Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists paid great attention to the problems of professional ethics and it used to fight with the so called "soiled competition". The Court of Honour was established for this purpose which tried the violations of ethics by the members of the society. The magazine "Pharmaceutical News" was being published in common with the Union of Lithuanian Pharmacists in 1923-1940. It was the main professional pharmaceutical magazine in Lithuania which reflected pharmaceutical problems of that time, was concerned with the ways to solve them and the activity of organizations. The Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists became stronger and stronger gradually, gained bigger and bigger authority and extended the directions of its activity. Moreover, it started to take care of the heritage of pharmaceutical history and charity as well. In particular, the Society of Lithuanian Pharmacists established the museum of an ancient Lithuanian pharmacy, financially supported the Society of Lithuanian Pharmacy Students and other organizations. When Lithuanian was occupied by the Soviet Union, the activity of all societies was ceased, societies of Lithuanian pharmacists stopped functioning on September 13, 1940 as well.