I used to be absolutely anticipating a summer season stuffed with espresso orders, refilling printer paper, and answering telephones; nonetheless, I began programming inside the first few weeks and haven’t left since. As a school scholar, I’d all the time had an curiosity in computer systems, coding, and significantly methods, however till that internship, I had not realistically envisioned myself in a world the place these pursuits had been the main target day by day. As soon as I bought a style of it, I used to be hooked for good. Now — practically 25 years later — I all the time discover myself in anticipation for what a brand new yr can imply for the pharmaceutical business.
I watched because the growth of technological developments within the 2000s modified the way in which healthcare professionals communicated with one another, saved and shared information with sufferers, and extra. Nicely all through the 2010s, I grew and differentiated my very own ability set whereas additionally watching as key gamers and well being methods did this for themselves as nicely. Every of those years had been marked with their very own set of challenges and tendencies, with some standing out greater than others. As all of us work to wrap up the yr and enter into 2025, there are actually a couple of tendencies that I do know I’ll have my eyes peeled for within the coming months and past.
Remedying pharmacy employees and buyer experiences
From pharmacist burnout and the continued ramifications of Covid-19 to pharmacy deserts and reducing buyer satisfaction scores, each employees and sufferers are in want of assist. For employees, we proceed to see the trending challenge of labor shortages and burnout, significantly within the years encompassing and following the worst of Covid-19, which has additional contributed to instability for pharmacies nationwide. The eighth version of the Pharmacy Office and Nicely-being Report, printed in March of this yr, confirmed obviously detrimental experiences reported by pharmacy employees centered round office circumstances, heavy workloads, flawed workflows, and limitations in communication with administration. The report pointed to those being ongoing issues pharmacists and technicians have been going through recurrently inside their roles for the final a number of years. Given the year-to-year continuation of those points, cures and resolutions are certain to be proposed and carried out within the coming yr to reduce these issues.
After we have a look at sufferers, the demand for remedy is a transparent issue to contemplate. Information printed by American Journal of Well being-System Pharmacy pointed to U.S. tendencies surrounding pharmaceutical medication with findings that included a 6.5% improve in prescription utilization from 2022 to 2023. The workforce behind this information pointed to an estimated vary of 10-12% development on the whole for prescription drug spending in 2024. With elevated utilization comes a better affected person reliance on pharmacy employees, which we all know are already going through their very own set of obstacles. J.D. Energy printed its 2024 U.S. Pharmacy Examine which confirmed that prospects reported decrease satisfaction scores related to their experiences at standard pharmacies as a result of elements equivalent to wait instances and struggles confronted when ordering their prescriptions. Pharmacy deserts are one other overarching barrier that’s rising concern throughout the U.S. with new analysis popping out of Ohio State College discovering that 46% of the three,143 counties studied had at the very least one pharmacy desert inside it.
Shifting perceptions on the function that pharmacists play
We all know that pharmacists play a number one function, if not the main function, in making certain that sufferers have a optimistic and useful expertise with their drugs. If you happen to ask a typical buyer what the job of a pharmacist is, they’ll seemingly say one thing alongside the strains of “My pharmacist is accountable for filling my drugs”; nonetheless, many professionals inside the business are striving to alter this notion. On this case, there’s a push for pharmacists to be considered as remedy suppliers. By referencing what the prescriber, the physician, has prescribed to deal with their identified challenge in addition to connecting with the affected person. In constructing a rapport with the affected person, the pharmacist would go over the remedy they are going to be receiving in addition to supply a holistic suggestion for complementary efforts that may assist the affected person’s restoration or way of life change. These strategies vary from what meals so as to add to at least one’s food regimen, what sort of train might be useful, and different modifications that may be supportive.
Pharmacists are extremely educated and educated professionals who – if given the chance, time, and platform – can additional collaborate with sufferers by what they do, what they’re going through in life, and what they’re consuming, to find out the most effective course of remedy. The mentality might be shifted from “that is who provides me my meds” to “that is who works with me to craft my steps for remedy, administration or restoration”. Whereas this can require years of advocacy and schooling, we might hear whispers of it within the coming yr as increasingly more individuals seek for methods to make the business extra environment friendly and patient-centric.
Asking inquiries to redefine the way forward for pharmacy
As we enter into 2025, we’ve to ask ourselves what the following quarter century ought to appear like. Let’s establish successes and classes realized throughout the business over the past 25 years and think about what we have to do to assist redefine the way forward for pharmacy. This have to be a collaborative effort the place we analyze elements equivalent to price to fill, the complexity of infrastructure, new applied sciences, gaps in entry, and rather more. As a person that may play an element on this, I’m viewing many of those points from a pharmacy automation lens. Think about what may very well be achieved by brazenly asking questions and becoming a member of forces with others that perceive these issues from a well being system, discovery, manufacturing, enterprise, and day-to-day operations standpoint. Identical to my 20-something-year-old self, we’ll by no means know till we attempt, and if we do, we may be on the cusp of one thing extraordinary.
Picture: Stuart Ritchie, Getty Photographs
Alecia Lashier, an engineer at coronary heart, has devoted greater than 20 years to breaking down issues, creating and integrating options of all sizes and complexities. As Chief Automation Officer at iA, Alecia collaborates carefully with business and academia leaders to advance know-how options for the sphere of healthcare.
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