Beyond the fill: Navigating pharmacy's technological future in 2050.

The pharmacy profession stands at a pivotal juncture as it faces unprecedented technological advancements that will rapidly reshape the healthcare landscape by 2050. This commentary explores the implications of technological advancements for pharmacy practice and how it may impact the workforce in the coming decades. The advent of digital health technologies (DHTs), artificial intelligence (AI), and automation is poised to transform patient engagement and care delivery.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Pharmacy Education.

Recent developments making an artificial intelligence (AI) large language model available for public use have generated significant interest and angst among educators. Viewed as both a time saver and a threat to academic integrity, several questions have arisen about AI's role in education. Numerous opportunities exist to use AI for teaching and learning, but new questions have also arisen regarding AI's impact on the future of healthcare.

Prescription digital therapeutics: A new frontier for pharmacists and the future of treatment.

Within digital health, digital therapeutics (DTx) are increasingly used to provide clinical treatment. DTx are evidence-based, U.S.

Reevaluating medication adherence in the era of digital health.

Introduction: Medication adherence is a worldwide issue impacting more than half the population. The cost associated with nonadherence is tremendous and has spurred the growth of novel technologies to address this growing problem.

Areas Covered: This perspective covers the different digital health medication adherence tools that have come to market in the past decade and their clinical impact.

Digital Health Integration Assessment and Maturity of the United States Biopharmaceutical Industry: Forces Driving the Next Generation of Connected Autoinjectable Devices.

Autoinjectable devices continue to provide real-life benefits for patients with chronic conditions since their widespread adoption 30 years ago with the rise of macromolecules. Nonetheless, issues surrounding adherence, patient administration techniques, disease self-management, and data outcomes at scale persist despite product design innovation. The interface of drug device combination products and digital health technologies formulates a value proposition for next-generation autoinjectable devices to power the delivery of precision care at home and achieve the full potential of biologics.

Integrating Digital Health into the Curriculum-Considerations on the Current Landscape and Future Developments.

The intercession of widespread Internet access and use of mobile devices and wearables has increased the attention to the field of digital health as a novel means of providing patient care. Although substantial advancements have been made toward the development of novel technologies and identification of therapeutic areas of impact, the issue remains of how to educate future health professionals to work in an era of digital tools. This perspective piece seeks to highlight areas of concern related to subset areas of the digital health environment and provide potential educational pathways to prepare students.

Crowdfunding pharmacy- and medication-related products: How successful is it?

Objective: To determine whether crowdfunding of pharmacy-related products through popular online platforms is a viable means to attain funding and what factors influence success.

Methods: Kickstarter and Indiegogo were searched for projects related to pharmacy using select key words. Projects were included for analysis if they were a device or system relevant to pharmacy care and excluded if found to be nonrelevant to medication management purposes or were of an artistic nature.

From ideation to practice: How pharmacists and students can leverage hackathons and innovation labs to accelerate innovation in pharmacy.

Objectives: To describe novel methods regarding innovation for pharmacists and student pharmacists to leverage local and national events, such as hackathons and innovation labs, that provide guidance and resources for developing novel products and solutions in health care.

Data Sources: Not applicable.

Summary: The profession of pharmacy exists in a diverse and complex system where collaboration is essential for innovation and can leverage existing resources to accelerate this.

Digital health evaluation workshop for interprofessional healthcare students.

The use of online resources by patients for their daily health needs has escalated with the proliferation of mobile devices and mobile apps. While healthcare professionals can help their patients access quality online resources and tools, they may not have received the education and training to do this effectively. To meet this educational need, a daylong workshop was developed at a health sciences university that aimed to increase awareness of students in various health disciplines of mobile health-related apps and federally sponsored websites that provide patient-friendly medical information.

Cost savings impact of a pharmacist-initiated teleservice program for Medicare Part D reviews.

Objectives: To (a) determine potential cost savings of a pharmacy outreach teleservice program conducting Medicare Part D plan reviews for a large population of beneficiaries allowing for comparison of multiple preferences; and (b) explore client demographic comparisons, plan features, and stratification by cost and number of medications.

Methods: Retrospective cohort evaluation of a Medicare D review service during open enrollment period (October 15 to December 7, 2012). Reviews were conducted at a university-based pharmacy outreach program in Massachusetts and completed by pharmacists (17%), case managers (52%), and students (31%).

Identification and review of mobile applications for travel medicine practitioners and patients.

Advancements in technology have led to the development of medical applications (apps). Contents of 44 apps related to travel medicine were assessed demonstrating that many were updated infrequently and several developers had no medical background. There is an opportunity for healthcare professionals to develop apps in travel medicine.

Enhancing Pharmacy Student Learning and Perceptions of Medical Apps.

Background: The use of mobile apps in health care is growing. Current and future practitioners must be equipped with the skills to navigate and utilize apps in patient care, yet few strategies exist for training health care professional students on the usage of apps.

Objective: To characterize first-year pharmacy student use of medical apps, evaluate first-year pharmacy student's perception of skills in finding, evaluating, and using medical apps before and after a focused learning experience, and assess student satisfaction and areas for improvement regarding the learning experience.

A mobile health technology workshop to evaluate available technologies and their potential use in pharmacy practice.

The objectives of this workshop were to characterise the use of mobile health (mHealth) devices among second year pharmacy students, discover perception of their potential use in practice and obtain workshop feedback. The workshop consisted of two sessions. The first session introduced the concept of mHealth and allowed for hands-on experience with wireless mHealth devices such as blood pressure cuffs, scales and smart body analysers, personal health devices and glucometers.

Leveraging mobile smart devices to improve interprofessional communications in inpatient practice setting: A literature review.

As mobile smart device use has increased in society, the healthcare community has begun using these devices for communication among professionals in practice settings. The purpose of this review is to describe primary literature which reports on the experiences with interprofessional healthcare communication via mobile smart devices. Based on these findings, this review also addresses how these devices may be utilized to facilitate interprofessional education (IPE) in health professions education programs.

Expanding clinical and information services to the ambulatory older adult through community outreach programs.

Objective: To share successful techniques pharmacists can use to educate community-based older adults about health and medications.

Setting: Events coordinated through MCPHS University Pharmacy Outreach Program and offered at Massachusetts senior centers.

Practice Description: The MCPHS University Pharmacy Outreach Program, staffed with pharmacists, caseworkers, and pharmacy students, under the supervision of licensed pharmacists, provides free medication-related information to Massachusetts residents.

Medical applications for pharmacists using mobile devices.

Background: Mobile devices (eg, smartphones, tablet computers) have become ubiquitous and subsequently there has been a growth in mobile applications (apps). Concurrently, mobile devices have been integrated into health care practice due to the availability and quality of medical apps. These mobile medical apps offer increased access to clinical references and point-of-care tools.