Today is Thursday, September 30th, 2021. We have just completed the final day of #flipthepharmacy, and what a transformative journey it has been. Pharmacies now operate more like healthcare hubs. Counseling rooms are in full use and point of care testing is commonplace. Physicians are referring patients to us for services. Appointments are booked, medications are synchronized, and the phrase “the pharmacist will see you now” is commonly heard.
Inventory needs are more predictable, as are the days’ events since only the acute care patients emerge unexpectedly at this point. Blood pressure readings and lab values accompanied by medication recommendations and clinical documentation are now the pharmacy’s primary export – addressing the historic information trade deficit with other members of the healthcare team. The next generation of pharmacists, now students of the science of the apothecary, are learning these very skills in the classroom and on rotation.
The pharmacy has been flipped.
For those of you wondering how a blog from the future found itself here, let me spare you the distracting details and simply let you know that for the visionary – time travel is commonplace. Are the most innovative and industry-changing business models not developed with the future in sight? Seeing beyond the demands of today, or in some cases the tyranny of the moment, is requisite to planting community pharmacy directly in the path of an oncoming healthcare system.
Looking back to those early weeks of Flip the Pharmacy (FtP), when the appointment-based model took its first steps and patient follow-up came into focus, we felt the momentum building. Like students at the piano, pharmacy staff acquired and grew the skills of care planning and workflow. And just like those pupils of musical technique, the sense of pride and accomplishment of this diligent staff was clearly visible to the traveling FtP pedagogues. The innovation which required everyone to push uphill soon became unstoppable.
The pharmacy has been flipped.
As we reconvene to our present day in November of 2019, let’s see if we can’t make this blog from the future a historical reality.
Go flip the pharmacy!
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