Index Malaysia's healthcare system before the COVID-19 pandemic Malaysia's healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemicConclusionThere are numerous pharmacy-related topics to present and deepen, ranging from drug safety and pharmaceutical advances to pharmacy ethics and patient counseling. However, for my personal study I chose to analyze the Malaysian healthcare system before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay In December 2019, SARS CoV-2, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a newly contagious zoonotic disease began to spread from China to neighboring nations. This infection is mainly spread from person to person through respiratory droplets created by exhaling while breathing, sneezing, coughing, or even talking. After a few months, the global expansion of the disease had reached 100 nations, prompting the WHO to classify the disease as a pandemic. One of the first preventive measures adopted by several governments around the world was the total closure of cities, often known as lockdown. The lockdown is expected to minimize transmission of COVID-19, resulting in fewer new cases, hospital admissions, intensive care unit admissions, and possibly a lower death rate. Management of the COVID-19 pandemic and epidemic control would be incomplete without the participation of pharmacists. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has highlighted the critical role pharmacists must play during the epidemic by publishing several guidelines on instructions and information related to COVID-19 outbreaks. The Malaysian healthcare system is divided into two levels: public and private. Everyone has access to the public system, while the private system primarily serves the metropolitan population and those who have the financial resources to pay for healthcare. The Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) or the Ministry of Defense are responsible for government-run health institutions (MOD). Hospital pharmacy is a subset of pharmacy integrated into the care of a medical facility that includes hospitals, outpatient clinics, poison control centers, drug information centers, and residential care facilities. Hospital pharmacy means a healthcare service that includes the art, practice and profession of selecting, preparing, storing, compounding and dispensing medicines and medical devices. The profession also involves counseling patients and other healthcare professionals on the safe, effective and efficient use of medicines. To provide different types of services efficiently, the pharmacy department of a hospital can be divided into three major sections: hospital pharmacy, outpatient pharmacy and medical store. The Malaysian healthcare system before the COVID-19 pandemic Supply chain management includes the selection of materials and suppliers selecting, purchasing, receiving, checking and organizing materials into warehouse, storage, distribution and service to the target audience. All actions related to drug management and supply chain must be carried out in accordance with established rules and best practices, involving only certified and professional personnel. For greater compliance with current standards, facility-specific policies and procedures, including SOPs, should be designed and followed. When medications are delivered by the supplier, pharmacists are subjected to acceptance tests to ensure that they do not receivelow quality items. Any errors in the distribution of medicines and devices could cause serious problems for the hospital and patients. The primary function of hospital pharmacy services is to provide medications to hospitalized patients using a variety of mechanisms. The example of hospital pharmacy services is parenteral nutrition, extemporaneous preparations, reconstitution of cytotoxic drugs and drug information services. The hospital pharmacist's job is to recommend and dispense personalized drug administration methods and doses. Hospital pharmacists can provide information about potential adverse effects and ensure medications are compatible with other medications. They will frequently observe the effects of treatments to ensure they are effective, safe and appropriate for you. Because hospital pharmacists must collaborate closely with other staff members such as doctors, nurses and dieticians, information must be communicated in a clear and understandable manner. To avoid any confusion, medication tables are an important source of information and an effective means of communication between hospital pharmacists and other members of the medical team. Next, they should track which patients are discharged and review the discharge report. This requires the pharmacist to check the patient's medical record to verify that the prescription dispensed matches the medication listed on the discharge statement. The primary function of the outpatient pharmacy is to provide medications to discharged inpatients or outpatients who visit the doctor at hospital clinics. The main strategy involves patients physically coming to collect their medications on a monthly basis. The length of a pharmacy session can vary depending on the hospital, as it is determined by the supply of pharmaceutical products offered to patients at each visit. There are also numerous value-added service (VAS) mechanisms available for refilling prescription drugs, such as drive-through pharmacies. However, VAS is not available in most hospitals and may vary depending on eligibility and medications taken by patients. For example, not all pharmaceutical products, especially cold chain and liquid pharmaceuticals, can be transported by courier. They also offer medication counseling which includes everything that happens during a medication review. Meanwhile, the Drug Information Center is available to answer questions from healthcare professionals and the general public, developing guidelines, conducting pharmacy and therapeutic committee activities, educational activities, conducting studies and reporting adverse drug reactions. Malaysia's healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain management is critical and needs continuous monitoring. The hospital pharmaceutical and medical logistics pharmacist at the medical store should facilitate the purchase of protective equipment to protect healthcare workers, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), disposable medical devices, hand sanitizers and others. PPE includes Tyvek suits, 3-ply surgical or medical masks (ear loop or tether), respiratory masks (medical or particulate), medical cap, headgear, face shield, goggles, plastic aprons, surgical isolation gowns, disposable gloves, leggings waterproof covers, shoe covers and boots. There was a global shortage of PPE during the first wave of COVID-19 in Malaysia, so PPE sewn by healthcare workers and non-government groups are donated to the hospital and evaluated by pharmaciststo confirm its quality. Additionally, a PPE tracker – an online spreadsheet is used to update your daily PPE balance. The pharmacist can also stock alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Self-production in large quantities is carried out to alleviate shortages, meet growing demand and reduce costs. Additionally, the lockdown imposed on most countries has made it difficult for pharmaceutical departments to obtain medical supplies, especially drugs to treat COVID-19. Therefore, pharmacists should update details of daily drug consumption and maintain continuous contact with state pharmacy departments to procure medicinal supplies for routine use in their hospitals. Starting from April 2020, Pharmacy Information Systems (PhIs) will be used for reporting and monitoring the status of daily stock balance at MOH sites as most COVID-19 drugs and antivirals have been used off- label, including hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), azithromycin (Zithromax), and so on. To minimize overcrowding and medication refill times, changes have been made to outpatient pharmacy services. Pharmacy Value Added Services (VAS) are implemented where patients can collect their medicines through appointment based system at the pharmacy counter, Medicines by Post, Drive-through Pharmacy (Farmasi Pandu Lalu), Locker4U and the integrated system of drug distribution (IDDS) . However, the pharmacist will analyze the case before dispensing the drug using the VAS. In the event of changes in pharmacotherapy, patients are still advised to go to the pharmacy for a scheduled collection of medications and for advice. Instead of receiving a one- or two-month supply of medications, patients are given three months' worth of medications to reduce the number of trips needed. The patient waiting area has been adjusted to meet the physical distancing standard (1m) and pharmacists working at the counter must wear a visor over a surgical mask and keep a safe distance from patients. Hospital pharmacy services are carried out normally but with additional precautions. This involves daily sanitization of workspaces, use of PPE and rotation of hazardous leaves to reduce contact. Meanwhile, other strategies such as the use of PhIS enable online prescriptions, drug supply, medication administration, and consultation recording. The drug dispensing technique was changed from a unit-dose system to a unit-use system, and the frequency of drug administration was reduced from daily to three times a week. Medicines are delivered to departments through a clean workspace and unused medicines are decontaminated with a 70% alcohol solution. Additionally, quarantine units should be available even if a hospital is not treating COVID-19 patients. Hospital pharmacy staff must ensure that these departments receive sufficient pharmaceutical supply and maintain minimum exposure between department staff and pharmacy staff. All COVID-19 departments were denied the administration of medications via a medication trolley. Instead, all prescriptions are placed in a disposable plastic zipper bag containing a one-week supply of orally administered medications and a three-day supply of injectable medications for each patient. Case conversations between pharmacists and doctors, which previously took place in the hospital. next to the bed, are now kept away from patient cabins to limit the time of.