2022 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 111-120
Objective: The provision of drug information from medical representatives (MRs) of pharmaceutical departments was changed to non-face-to-face on the principle of preventing further spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there have been no reports investigating the impact of operational changes under such circumstances on the drug information response service and drug information provision activities of MRs. In this study, we investigated the influence of such changes.
Methods: We investigated the number of requests for drug information from MRs, the number of visits by MRs, and the response rate for information issued by companies. In addition, a questionnaire survey was conducted with MRs who provided information to drug departments to investigate their workload, work efficiency, and sense of anxiety about the provision of information.
Results: The MRs’ average number of requests per operating day was 16.0±6.4 (cases/day). The median number of visits to the pharmacy department per operating day was 11 before the operational change, compared to 1 after the change, revealing a significant decrease (p < 0.001). The response rate for information provided by companies was 64.9% (161/248) after the operational change,compared to 64.6% (93/170) after the change, showing no significant difference (p=1.00). As for the influence on information provision activities, less than half of the MRs perceived a negative influence in terms of workload and efficiency; however, more than half of the MRs perceived a negative influence in terms of anxiety about information provision.
Conclusion: We clarified the impact of operational changes during the COVID-19 pandemic on our work. We believe that the results of this study can be one of the most useful sources of information for continuing information provision activities based on the principle of non-face-to-face communication.
