Opinion

To remain relevant, pharmacies must have a value add or differentiation other than location, says Doyle Jensen, executive vice president of global business development at Innovation. 

In order to provide the best care for patients, real impediments to delivering patient care in all pharmacy practice settings need to be addressed, according to Janet Engle professor, senior associate dean for professional and international affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy.

Through thoughtful design features that addressed injection therapy obstacles, Owen Mumford brought to market a product that made injection therapy easier, safer and more convenient, explains Casey Pflieger, director of North American marketing at Owen Mumford.

Pharmacy is a profession that is in the midst of perhaps the greatest changes experienced in more than 50 years, according to Michael Hogue, president-elect designate of the American Pharmacists Association.

As technology continues to transform the way people live, healthcare professionals are seeing the impact this transformation is having on patients’ expectations on how they access healthcare services and how those services are delivered, according to Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner.

The conversation at the pharmacy counter traditionally has been about which pills to take when, but with advances in medical science, a new frontier — biologics and biosimilars — is flourishing, explains Chip Davis, president and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines. 

Fred Mayer, CEO of Pharmacists Planning Services, explains how as the political healthcare debate rages on, many of the “first-world” problems that cause illness and compromise our quality of life are problems pharmacists can help solve.

William Sieber, president of E. F. Bavis and Associates, explains how the pharmacist-patient relationship requires the sharing of concise and detailed information, which can include times, dosage amounts, possible interactions with other medications, and more.