Management of Human Resources in Community Pharmacies during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51412/psnnjp.2026.024Keywords:
COVID-19, community pharmacies, human resources management, public health emergency, security agents, emergency preparednessAbstract
Background: Community pharmacies were among essential service businesses allowed to operate during the COVID-19 public health emergency. This study investigated human resources challenges in community pharmacies in southwestern Nigeria during the COVID-19 public health emergency and the strategies employed to manage them.
Methods: A mixed method approach was utilised for data collection in a descriptive cross-sectional study of 420 community pharmacies across Lagos, Oyo and Osun states in Southwestern Nigeria using a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire (Cronbach ∞ = 0.86) exploring their human resources challenges experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and strategies employed to manage them. Twenty-one community pharmacists were purposively sampled for the audio-recorded In-depth interviews using an interview guide. Ethical approval was obtained before commencing the study.® Qualitative data were thematically analysed while the quantitative data were subjected to IBM SPSS Version25 software analysis.
Results: A total of 376 valid responses were obtained yielding 89.5% response rate of sampled community pharmacies located in urban (69.7%), peri-urban (25.5%), and rural (4.8%) areas of the study states. Categories of non-pharmacy staff reported by CPs included pharmacy managers (93.1%), health assistants (92.8%), cashiers (92.0%) and pharmacy technicians (80.1%). Challenges experienced by community pharmacy staff included difficulty in getting transportation to and from work (68.1%), fear of attending to clients (60.6%), and poor compliance of support staff to safety protocol (44%). Staff who were not pharmacists were harassed (43.5%) by security agents who did not recognise them as essential staff. Some measures to manage human resources challenges included change of work schedules (63.8%), issuing of identification cards (44.9%), car-pooling (32.2%), and provision of accommodation (12%). Interviewees' comments corroborating the findings include, “we had to provide accommodation for them”, “It was not easy for staff to come to the office during the total lockdown, ...those who had cars picked up those who don't.”
Conclusion: Community pharmacy staff experienced several challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reported innovative strategies employed serve as lessons that can be adopted for managing the reported human resources challenges in any future pandemic to ensure continuity of service. Also, relevant security agents should be enlightened about the essential nature of the duties of community pharmacies support staff.
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