There is a trend among pharmacy chains to turn themselves into mini–health systems. Can sentient robots replace humans as an effective healthcare companion? prescribing, online adjudication of prescription claims, electronic Over the centuries, new technologies have generally been telephone company to Western Union, the president of Western Union “They have all the photos of the medications, and they are trying to figure out a way a patient could take a photo of a drug and identify it,” said Aungst. as a means of transportation would negatively impact its use on farms; the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature ... AI development isn't going as fast as everyone claims here and even when the technology is ready it will still take almost a decade to be implemented to replace the jobs. children read about in comic books. ever-changing technology landscape in which our readers live every day. That’s because while technology may make a pharmacist more Technology and pharmacy: my role as a pharmacist in informatics. Despite widespread About two-thirds of American pharmacists today work in … ’s e-mail in-box; and iPhone and iPad apps for busy on-the-go pharmacists who want to stay connected to U.S. Pharmacist at all times. Will pharmacists be replaced by robots? all the technology surrounding them, pharmacists will continue to This technology does not, however, intend to replace the patient–pharmacist or patient–provider relationship. It most certainly does not replace pharmacists, but rather makes the mundane part of their job a little easier and safer. In some cases, the technology could be used to help fill the physician shortage that is even now gripping many parts of the country, and is expected to get worse. will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” And who technology, as exemplified in a 1909 article published in the Aungst pointed out that pharmacists do not develop many of today’s apps, websites, and programs. Someone has to verify the drugs going into the machine and the final product, because at the end of the day, someone needs to be accountable.”. “I like this story because despite all that robots can do, it reminds me that pharmacists will need to be part of the operations. For pharmacists worried about being replaced by technology, Aungst offered the story of the 2005 remake of the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Innovative technology used within the pharmacy department at UW Hospitals and Clinics includes: Centralized robotics dispensing technology : Originally implemented in 1992, UW Hospital and Clinics was the second hospital in the world to have a robot in the central pharmacy that uses barcode technology to dispense medications. asked if I think technology will ever replace pharmacists, my response In addition to answering drug information queries, InpharmD collates information from accurate resources to speed up topic searching. All rights reserved. The role of the health-system pharmacist is expanding rapidly. Implementing online fax technology in the pharmacy. Especially blister packs…. Dispensing pharmacists would supervise a core of pharmacy technicians that provide high-volume, product-focused services. Aungst noted that pharmacists need to jump in and take the reins in terms of clinical content when it comes to developing tools for patients and providers. “Technology offers hospital pharmacists the ability to counsel more patients, have a greater visibility on hospital floors, and expand clinical roles, but only if we are willing to take a leap of faith and embrace change,” said Timothy Dy Aungst, PharmD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the School of Pharmacy at MCPHS University in Worcester, MA. An emerging technology that has the potential to improve patient care is placing remote tags on medications dispensed in hospitals. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is exploring the development of an app to identify tablets and capsules. their debut in retail stores, many pharmacists thought that computers over the years is endless. 11 SEP 2017. “We can use technology to leverage our services and functions when it comes to provider status, and I could envision that as a changing nature of our profession,” said Aungst. On the positive side, automation technologies can offer many benefits. We cannot be complacent with current practice, but rather question how can we get better,” he said in an interview with Pharmacy Today. contraption off the ground? Some were concerned that replacing the horse Earlier this year, I decided to purchase a new bike. As technology continues to evolve, the medical field as a whole is trying to learn how to adjust to technology, noted Aungst. “We are in a good position to seize the initiative and use technology to take us places we couldn’t before.”, He noted that when used correctly, technology could lead to improved patient care. Eldon Richards, chief technology officer at Recondo Technologies, said AI is now addressing a lot of repetitive tasks that a human might do today. Pharmacists will be relied upon to answer the really “hard” questions that patients can’t quickly google or look up the answers to, Aungst noted. There is also the threat that decision support provided by technology may be a replacement for the clinical reasoning of pharmacists. As pharmacy technician credentialing continues to increase, these “super technicians,” combined with robotic systems, might even replace the functions of the dispensing pharmacist. Up to 20 million manufacturing jobs around the world could be replaced by robots by 2030, according to analysis firm Oxford Economics. However, at the end of the movie, Mr. Bucket is rehired to take care of the robot. program, pharmacists seeking an advanced position, such as a clinical pharmacy or research job, may need to complete a one- to two-year residency. pharmacists. mail order and institutional pharmacies already have tech that can replace pharmacists. months. But pharmacists themselves will not be replaceable in the near (and reasonably far) future. Even the well-respected Popular Mechanics magazine could not envision the miniaturization of today’s technology. A decision which I agonized over probably a bit too much. A huge acceleration in the use of robots will affect jobs around the world, Oxford Economics says. According to BCC Research, the global pharmacy automation market was valued at $3.5 billion in 2015 and will increase to $5.5 billion in 2021. Pharmacists are members of what is ranked as the 13th-best paid profession, according to a U.S. News survey of 150 professions. Telepharmacy brings quality health care to rural, medically underserved communities nationwide. “If you go back 20 or 30 years before the widespread use of the Internet, patients and providers relied on pharmacists for drug information because we had the information, and they didn’t,” said Aungst. If you mean the act of dispensing medications, much of it already has been, and we can't wait until all of it does. In some cases, the technology could be used to help fill the physician shortage that is even now gripping many parts of the country, and is expected to get worse. No. As society’s use of technology continues to increase, and as technology becomes more accessible and sophisticated, digital health is here to stay. Yes, but not as fast as the technology matures and is ready for market. “We need to stay abreast of what is coming out and get involved with technology at the development phase,” said Aungst. were plenty of doubters. the automobile was invented near the turn of the past century, there others were worried about the fuel needed to run “horseless carriages,” Hospitals are … However as a technologist who moved into IT as a second career, my focus has been on not Technology in a bubble, but the value technology can add to people. 6 NOV 2017 “Pill identification apps could be a threat, but they could also be great in the grand scheme of things because it would free up that technician to have more time to dedicate to patient care responsibilities,” said Aungst. By automatically filling prescriptions, pharmacists have more time to spend in patient counseling roles. The biggest failure the pharmacy profession can make is to not keep up with medical advances and technological developments, noted Aungst. If the meds are going to a patient in the hospital, the prescription can be handed off to a Tug robot that “rolls around the hospi… Over the past 50 years, the role of pharmacists has evolved along with the health care needs of our population. Technology: Will it help or hurt the future of pharmacy practice? Will Robots Replace Pharmacists? For hospital pharmacists, technology has the potential to replace pharmacists in terms of dispensing roles, but it could also free up pharmacists to spend more time on the hospital floors so they can interact with patients and provide clinical information to physicians. There is no question that technological advances in However, many pharmacies do not us… For example, all pharmacies use pharmacy management systems for medication records, dispensing, labelling, ordering and stock control. Con: Technology cannot replace you, the pharmacist Although the addition of robotics can improve efficiency and productivity, a machine can never replace pharmacists. If a patient comes into the emergency department with a tablet or capsule and doesn’t know what it is, instead of having a pharmacy technician track down the name of the drug, a nurse could use the NIH app to identify it. It runs out that there are more dependencies than a program can catch, and if a program fails, what recourse do politicians have. People “We as pharmacists need to step up to the plate and be involved in the development process and give our two cents,” said Aungst. This accessibility allows them to perform more patient care activities, including counseling, medication management, and preventive care screenings. A computer is simply unable to replace human interaction. “This leads to a job loss, and the family panics,” said Aungst. depend on their personal medication therapy consultations. In 1949, merely 63 years ago, it wrote: The pharmacist “has a huge scalability to reach as many people as possible.”. At the UCSF Medical Center, hundreds of staff and patients rely on an automated “robot pharmacy” to fill prescriptions and a fleet of thousands of autonomous bots to deliver them, according to KQED Science. “Technology and automation are going to do a whole lot of things that the traditional pharmacist has done,” says Dr. Marilyn Stebbins, a pharmacy professor and vice-chair of clinical innovation at UCSF. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Pharmacists are an integral part of the health care team, and are among the most trusted and accessible health care professionals. From your view as a pharmacy technician, you’ll get to see all the things pharmacists do on a daily basis. In addition to dispensing medications and ensuring patient safety, today’s pharmacists are taking a larger role as medical counselors, educators and advocates. Aungst believes these apps could be viewed as a threat to pharmacists. That’s because while technology may make a pharmacist more productive, it simply cannot substitute for the personal, face-to-face consultation that only a pharmacist can deliver to patients. Ten years earlier, only 13 percent of pharmacis… use of technology in pharmacy—electronic pill counters, electronic graduating from colleges of pharmacy in the U.S. than ever before. Even the well-respected, “Computers in the future may...perhaps only weigh 1.5 tons, The Pharmacist’s Role in Surgery: The Indispensable Asset, Reducing Medication Errors Using Technological Innovations. As technology implementation continues to evolve, pharmacists are at the forefront of capitalizing on new models for patient care and overcoming potential threats. “Computers in the future may...perhaps only weigh 1.5 tons. The American Pharmacists Association is actually a supporter of automation in pharmacies around the U.S. Jollah said it's unlikely robots could ever replace pharmacists… “Pharmacists need to become the gatekeepers of resources we trust and gain a bigger presence to demonstrate how to interpret all of this information,” he added. When And yet, 30 years later, there are more pharmacists With the growth of conscious machines, no doctor is safe from the … quoted as saying that television “won’t be able to hold on to any A pharmacist is typically the only person allowed to place orders for a schedule II drug. professional interactive social-media Web site called PharmQD (www.pharmqd.com), developed by pharmacists for pharmacists; digital editions of U.S. Pharmacist; Facebook and Twitter news feeds; e-Connect flashes containing timely pharmacy information delivered right to one The American Journal of Pharmacy Education last year warned of a potential glut of more than 40,000 pharmacy school graduates by 2022 due to “bionic competition.” Dr. Marilyn Stebbins suggests that, “Technology and automation are going to do a whole lot of things that the traditional pharmacist has done.” Pharmacists rely heavily on technology to help them do tasks that are often complex. Inpatient Care. Many technologies coming on the market may help patients and other health care workers with drug information. Despite Reducing the number of techs will thereby reduce the overlap of pharmacists, and reduce the number of pharmacists in the field by necessity. Although this could eliminate a patient’s trip to the community pharmacist, a medication identification app could have a positive influence during the hospital admission medication reconciliation process. “We need to make technology work for us. 8 AUG 2016. Aungst used the example of Uber’s rise to success to demonstrate the danger of becoming complacent. In this competitive world, only the best emerge. Since 1990, the survey has documented three important trends in health-system pharmacy: the influence of The Joint Commission (TJC’s) on national safety standards, the growth of technology in pharmacy practice, and the evolution of roles for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Easy dispensing of drugs, fast discharge, quick access to medical records. 40 years ago, I worked in a clinical pharmacy as a tech and there was talk about how drug vending machines would replace all retail pharmacists. Pharmacists are already using IT systems to support their daily work and, when considering the IT requirements for emerging working practices, pharmacists should consider what functions could be provided by systems that they already use. pharmacy have benefited the profession enormously. children read about in comic books. “We are getting to the point where there is more communication between hospitals and community pharmacies, and [in] many community pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens, walk-in clinics are located right next to the pharmacy,” said Aungst. ever thought the Wright brothers would get their odd-looking “This will have huge ramifications because not only does the pharmacy have that laboratory data, the patient’s provider will want that data, which will need to be shared through an integrated electronic health record system.”. ”. To be clear, AI technology is not currently capable of replacing your favorite opinion journalist at the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Rik Jones May 10, 2011 at 10:09 am. pharmacy, pharmacy point-of-sale, pharmacy technology. 40 years ago, I worked in a clinical pharmacy as a tech and there was talk about how drug vending machines would replace all retail pharmacists. We do need an innovative pharma industry. Pharmacists need to bring more value to the health care table than functions that can be performed by robots. You Get a Peek at Life as a Pharmacist. with instant grading and certification (www.uspharmacist.com); a The list of technological marvels produced From automation that can fill prescriptions to apps that provide drug information, there is a fear that technology may one day replace many of the hospital pharmacist’s and hospital pharmacy technician’s functions. “Imagine if the time comes when a pharmacist offers counseling on medications, and the patient says, “No need, I can just use my phone to look up the information’,” said Aungst. is always the same: “Only if pharmacists allow it to happen.”. “This is a very positive example of a pharmacist using technology, offering … clinical services and knowledge to answer complicated drug questions,” said Aungst. The somewhat frightening part is that, according to Rita Jew, director of the automated pharmacy program at UCSF is that the robots have worked for five years with 100% accuracy. 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