Digital Health in the Retail Space from a Pharmacist Intern’s Perspective
I have worked in the retail sector of the pharmacy field for over five years now, not too long, but I have certainly seen some things come and go. When I first started back in the summer of 2015, the most technology we had in the stores was the computer workstations around the pharmacy. Eight in total, but not really much else. Everything was hand-counted, even the dreaded 360-count metformin prescriptions.
It was then that I experienced my first, what I thought at the time was digital health. Filling in at a different store, this was the first time I worked with an automated filling cabinet. I couldn’t believe that there was a piece of technology that could accurately fill so many prescriptions, with the only human involvement being to refill the medication supply. I don’t know if I would consider that to be “digital health” with my broader understanding now, but it certainly benefitted customers by way of their prescriptions rarely not being ready, a common problem that hand-fillers faced, especially with a queue that would sometimes surpass 10 pages.
I then met the continuous glucose monitoring systems, which are a great example of a device that improves a patient’s health digitally, with many linking to a phone application, if not to a separate sensor. My grandfather has been a diabetic patient for years, and he spoke with me before making the switch himself. Of course, his biggest concern was the usability and the learning curve that would come with the devices. He has been using one of those continuous systems for years now and is managing his blood sugar better than he probably ever has.
Fast forward to 2020.
Oh, what a year it has been, to say the least. COVID-19 made its major impact on the United States around mid-March, and healthcare workers were called upon like they never had been before, at least not in my lifetime of 24 years. From the pharmacy perspective, we had to fill prescriptions for more people and at a faster rate than I ever experienced, all while complying with the new buzzword of “social distancing” and getting used to working with masks on our faces for entire shift.
Then, new digital health made its appearance. I now see digital health as the utilization of technology and medicine together to make the delivery of healthcare more personalized and convenient for each patient.
I began hearing all these customers approach the counter stating that they had a video conference with their doctor and that he or she sent in a prescription. Besides the logistical problem we had with those services in the beginning, this idea of virtual doctor appointments was completely foreign to me. More and more, the digital physician services seemed to garner customers and send prescriptions, just like any physical doctor’s office would. I cannot imagine how many lives have been saved by being able to circumvent an in-person trip to a physician, and then either have prescriptions picked up in a drive-thru or delivered via mail carrier.
Being on the forefront of the pandemic has really allowed me to gain a perspective on how important these digital services have become, and I think they are here to stay. As for the retail component, I cannot wait to see what is coming down the pipeline to expand our own sector’s contributions to the digital health arena.
