RESUMEN
The symptoms of psychiatric infirmities have variability, and selected drug regimens for mental illness are comparatively complex and individualized; therefore, pharmacy services vary with respect to patients, diseases, healthcare settings, community structures, and countries. Clinical pharmacy services for mental health (MH) are continuously being upgraded. A structured search of the literature was performed in the Cochrane, PubMed (Medline), PsycINFO, Google scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, and Springer Links databases. The title and abstract of each retrieved article were evaluated for relevance. To remove uncertainty and ambiguity, the full-text articles were retrieved and examined for relevance. The articles were further assessed on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Narrative synthesis was performed, creating new categories and relevant subcategories and further subsections. The articles and the results were assessed for quality and bias. Pharmacists have a range of expertise in psychiatric care. The services can be classified as conventional, extended, and advanced pharmacy services. Conventional services include the quality use of medicines in healthcare settings and medication support services in communities that ensure medication adherence. Pharmacists perform extended roles in collaborative medication therapy management, multidisciplinary community mental health teams, collaborative care, patient education, home medication review, hospital-to-home transit, and screening services. In the USA, the role of pharmacists was advanced by prescribing as collaborative and interim prescribers. Australia launched an accredited program for psychiatric first-aid pharmacists. Pharmacists can provide mental care to rural populations using health technology. The role of pharmacists in MH is appreciated either independently or as a team member. Patients and healthcare providers rank the services of pharmacists in MH highly. Still, there is a margin for improvement in the training of pharmacists. Pharmacists cannot provide sufficient time to their patients. Public awareness about the role of pharmacists in MH needs more attention. Moreover, the training of psychiatric pharmacists should be standardized around the world.
RESUMEN
In late December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread from Hubei province in China. Currently there are many affected countries worldwide, including Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to assess the use of social media as a source for COVID-19 awareness in Saudi Arabia. An online survey was conducted between 9 and 13 May 2020 and a total of 3,204 subjects participated in the survey. We used snowball sampling techniques through an online structured questionnaire. The data were cleaned, coded and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS version 25.0. A chi-square test was used to find the associations between variables. Of all participants, 75.4% had a high level of awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic. Saudi participants above 18 years old and medical practitioners showed a high level of awareness. All participants from all regions of Saudi Arabia showed a high level of awareness except for those from the northern region. The most common source of information was the official government social media, and 44.1% reported the use of Twitter. Our findings show that social media have a positive impact on the circulation of information about the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.