Abstract
To ensure disaster preparedness, pharmacists must be familiar with extraordinary disaster response practices in advance of a disaster, particularly in communities with a high rate of separation between dispensary and medical practice and with many patients with chronic diseases who may be without prescriptions following a disaster. To make future improvements to responsiveness, we investigated community pharmacies' awareness of extraordinary measures following a disaster and relations between such awareness and the implementation of disaster prevention measures or business operation systems. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all 526 pharmacies in Akita prefecture. Obtained data were analyzed by χ2 analysis and Fisher's exact test. More than 80% of respondents were aware of special handling of prescription drugs and insurance dispensing at a time of disaster; this high awareness was largely due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, and possibly because Akita is close to the disaster area. Awareness may not be as high in areas farther from the disaster area. Only 43% of pharmacies stored a printed version of “The Disaster Preparedness Manual for Pharmacies and Pharmacists”, specifying extraordinary measures at the time of a disaster. As approximately 80% of respondents answered they could act after having “reconfirmed the contents of the manual”, we recommend a printed version be stored at every pharmacy so information is readily accessible even during a power outage. Pharmacies that have expanded business into other prefectures tend to have better disaster preparedness. Each community should develop an appropriate disaster-prevention system so even small pharmacies can establish disaster preparedness.
