How Digital Transformation in Pharmacy Is Driving Culturally Competent Care

Joy Somogyi
Senior Director, Product Marketing, Omnicell

Modern pharmacists spend nearly a decade training for clinical practice. Yet many find that their careers are filled with cumbersome manual and administrative tasks that take up 75% of their time. The lack of automation, especially when it comes to medication management, is keeping pharmacists too far from patient care.

Pharmacists are consistently ranked among the top-most trusted professions, in large part due to their extensive training, medication expertise, accessibility, and compassion. But under-utilization of the pharmacist is resulting in a significant lost opportunity for clinical excellence and patient satisfaction.

So why are we not making it easier for them to practice at the top of their license?

The digital transformation of healthcare is the opportunity for pharmacy to move back to the center of patient care. Automating critical workflows in central pharmacy contributes to overall operational efficiency. Enhancing that automation with comprehensive, real-time, data that provides actionable insights can improve the allocation of human resources, increase workflow optimization, and ultimately free up time to focus on clinical care.

Without the burden of manual tasks, pharmacists can spend more time at the bedside. Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to deliver culturally competent care, a phrase that the American Hospital Association describes as “the ability of systems to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including the tailoring of health care delivery to meet patients' social, cultural and linguistic needs.” And when pharmacists spend time explaining medication to a patient in a manner that respects their background and diversity, healthcare will see better outcomes.

Digital transformation for health systems and pharmacy is now a reality with technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. With the automation of manual processes, health systems are freeing pharmacists to spend more time delivering culturally competent care to patients.

Join us on Wednesday, April 28 at 10:15 a.m. PT/1:15 p.m. ET as Dr. Shafiq Rab, MD, MBBS, MPH, CHCIO, FCHIME, Chief Digital Officer and System Chief Information Officer at Wellforce, explores the importance of digital transformation in the pharmacy and providing culturally competent care, including:

• How digital transformation can reduce pharmacy errors and allow pharmacists to work at the top of their license
• Why pharmacists are the best-suited member of the care team to provide culturally competent care
• How to use technology to surface actionable insights that better connect teams and lead to digital transformation

Register today.

DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author(s). These views are always subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and may not be held in perpetuity.