{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T09:59:45Z","timestamp":1782986385454,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,11]],"date-time":"2021-09-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631318400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Community pharmacies are among the most easily accessible health services. Considering the major impact of COVID-19 in social terms, the purpose was to analyse the evolution of the relationship between community pharmacies and customers during the pandemic in 2020 and to understand which strategies should be implemented in the future. The data have been collected from May to December 2020. Pharmacists administered a questionnaire, also available online, to all customers that agreed to participate. The total number of respondents was 502. The results obtained confirm a generally high level of satisfaction with pharmacies among customers and appreciation for the role of community pharmacies. For the future, the priority is to monitor the situation to break down social inequalities. A task that can be entrusted to the branch of the healthcare service ideally suited to this end: local medicine, of which the community pharmacy is an essential element. The post-pandemic pharmacy will need to have the skills to provide accurate and reliable information on issues, including broad topics such as prevention and lifestyle to fight \u201csyndemic\u201d (two or more factors that work together to make a disease worse) and \u201cinfodemic\u201d (too much information including false or misleading information during a disease outbreak).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18189582","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,12]],"date-time":"2021-09-12T21:45:57Z","timestamp":1631483157000},"page":"9582","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The Relationship between Customers and Community Pharmacies during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: A Survey from Italy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5483-8501","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Baratta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michele","family":"Ciccolella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FarmaHiSkill Italia, Via Guelfa 5, 40138 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paola","family":"Brusa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, Via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"456","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sapharm.2020.04.033","article-title":"Social distancing and the use of PPE by community pharmacy personnel: Does evidence support these measures?","volume":"17","author":"Hasan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Res. Soc. Adm. Pharm."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e005764","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2014-005764","article-title":"The positive pharmacy care law: An area-level analysis of the relationship between community pharmacy distribution, urbanity and social deprivation in England","volume":"4","author":"Todd","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMJ Open."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"World Health Organization website (2021, July 01). The Role of the Pharmacist in the Health Care System. Available online: https:\/\/digicollections.net\/medicinedocs\/#d\/h2995e."},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"609","article-title":"Helpful advice and hidden expertize: Pharmacy users\u2019 experiences of community pharmacy accessibility","volume":"39","author":"Lindsey","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e009828","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2015-009828","article-title":"Community pharmacy-delivered interventions for public health priorities: A systematic review of interventions for alcohol reduction, smoking cessation and weight management, including meta-analysis for smoking cessation","volume":"6","author":"Brown","year":"2016","journal-title":"BMJ Open."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"99","article-title":"A dose of drugs, a touch of violence, a case of AIDS: Conceptualizing the SAVA syndemic","volume":"24","author":"Singer","year":"1996","journal-title":"Free. Inq. Creat. Sociology."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"174","article-title":"Syndemics or Synergistic Epidemics","volume":"1","author":"Hayran","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Health Syst. Policies."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Horton, R. (2020). The COVID-19 Catastrophe: What\u2019s Gone Wrong and How to Stop it Happening Again, Polity Press."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Marmot, M. (2021, July 01). Fair Society Healthy Lives. The Marmot Review. Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England Post. Available online: https:\/\/www.instituteofhealthequity.org\/resources-reports\/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review\/fair-society-healthy-lives-full-report-pdf.pdf."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"176","DOI":"10.1186\/s13643-017-0573-9","article-title":"The effects of community pharmacy public health interventions on population health and health inequalities: A systematic review of reviews protocol","volume":"6","author":"Bambra","year":"2017","journal-title":"Syst. Rev."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bragazzi, N.L., Mansour, M., Bonsignore, A., and Ciliberti, R. (2020). The Role of Hospital and Community Pharmacists in the Management of COVID-19: Towards an Expanded Definition of the Roles, Responsibilities, and Duties of the Pharmacist. Pharmacy, 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmacy8030140"},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"(2021, July 01). Italian Government Website, Available online: http:\/\/www.governo.it\/it\/articolo\/comunicato-stampa-del-consiglio-dei-ministri-n-27\/13937."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Baratta, F., Visentin, G., Enri, L.R., Parente, M., Pignata, I., Venuti, F., Di Perri, G., and Brusa, P. (2021). Community Pharmacy Practice in Italy during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Regulatory Changes and a Cross-Sectional Analysis of Seroprevalence. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18052302"},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"(2021, July 01). Italian Ministry of Health Website, Available online: http:\/\/www.salute.gov.it\/portale\/news\/p3_2_1_1_1.jsp?lingua=italiano&menu=notizie&p=dalministero&id=4084."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"(1968). Law n. 221 of 8 March 1968. Official Gazette of the Italian Republic n.80, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"AIFA (Italian Drug Agency) Website (2021, July 01). Available online: https:\/\/www.aifa.gov.it\/documents\/20142\/1542390\/Rapporto-OsMed-2020.pdf."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"60","article-title":"The Surprising Power of Questions","volume":"96","author":"Wood","year":"2018","journal-title":"Harv. Bus. Rev."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Cambridge Dictionary Website (2021, July 01). Available online: https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/it\/."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"(1938). Royal decree n. 1706 of 30 September 1938. Official Gazette of the Italian Republic n.259, Official Gazette of the Italian Republic."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Pharmaceutical Group of European Union Website (2021, September 01). Annual Report 2020\u2014the Role of Community Pharmacists in the Fight Against COVID-19. Available online: https:\/\/www.pgeu.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/PGEU-Annual-Report-2020-Web.pdf."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2032","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sapharm.2020.03.015","article-title":"On the frontline against COVID-19: Community pharmacists\u2019 contribution during a public health crisis","volume":"17","author":"Cadogan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Res. Soc. Adm. Pharm."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.4103\/jrpp.JRPP_20_131","article-title":"Strategic role and challenges of community pharmacists in SARS-CoV-2 outbreak","volume":"10","author":"Gupta","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Res. Pharm. Pr."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/s43094-021-00273-9","article-title":"A comprehensive review on global contributions and recognition of pharmacy professionals amidst COVID-19 pandemic: Moving from present to future","volume":"7","author":"Sami","year":"2021","journal-title":"Futur. J. Pharm. Sci."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"World Health Organization, Website (2021, July 01). Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/health-topics\/infodemic#tab=tab_1."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"World Health Organization, Website (2021, September 01). Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/18-08-2021-new-who-publication-infodemic-signal-detection-during-the-covid-19-pandemic."}],"container-title":["International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/18\/18\/9582\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T07:01:00Z","timestamp":1760166060000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/18\/18\/9582"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,11]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}},"alternative-id":["ijerph18189582"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijerph18189582","relation":{},"ISSN":["1660-4601"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1660-4601","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,11]]}}}