DIGI SOCIETY
My experiences with digitalisation
I am a pharmacist and my first working experience with digitalisation started over 10 years ago, when Estonia switched from paper prescriptions to electronic. Later, Finland switched to electronic prescriptions. There have been many changes in digitalisation since that time. The number of paper prescriptions has been reduced, system failures have become very rare, now you can buy medicine by e-prescription in the following countries:
- Estonia
- Portugal
- Croatia
The list of countries will be updated and in the future it will be possible to buy medicine in the countries where we will travel.
Future ideas
Currently I am working for a medical device company, but before that I have worked in the pharmaceutical industry. I left my job as a pharmacist in the summer of 2021 and exactly one year later, I returned for 20 hours a month.
In 2022 more than 70% of pharmacies in Finland are experiencing pharmacist shortages. It is a difficult to improve or create new services, organize unit-dose sachets for clients because there are no resources for it. Pharmacy owners must work without vacations and sometimes without days off.
Based on the Elo`s article (2022) pharmacy owners name the following reasons for the current situation
- Pharmacists go to other pharmaceutical sectors to work
- Pharmacies are in small towns or secluded areas, where it is difficult to get pharmacists
- Work in a pharmacy does not meet expectations
- Shift work, long opening hours
- Lack of career opportunities
- Low salary
- Opening of new pharmacies has complicated the situation with pharmacists
- Working conditions in pharmacies are unattractive for young pharmacists
The solution in this situation could be
- Educate more pharmacist
- Return interest to the specialty of those who have already graduated but work in another sector or in another specialty
- Reduce pharmacy opening hours
- Develop online pharmacies
The situation with the pharmacist shortage is also affected by the lack of staff in health stations, long waiting time to see a doctor’s appointment makes patients turn to pharmacies for help. The COVID-19 has changed pharmacies towards digitalisation. Online pharmacies have become more popular, but pharmacists are still overwhelmed. Digital pharmacies need a lot of improvement. In the current situation, it is necessary to make a customer experience in the online pharmacy smooth and positive and make changes in the pharmaceutical legislation.
Self-serve pharmacy
A self-serve pharmacy will dispense medicines based on barcode or QR-code. The client will receive information about the medication using secure messages or IVR (Interactive Voice Response). Also, the client can renew medications or order an electronic notification when it is possible to buy the reimbursable medicine again.
Online pharmacy
A software with which help the customer gets help in choosing a medicine without prescription. At the beginning, the client will answer the questions about
- symptoms
- duration of the symptoms
- age
- gender
- medicines are already used for this purpose
After answering the questions, the program will decide about the treatment, or the program may ask you to contact a doctor or go to a pharmacy for a more detailed recommendation. Also, using the software, the client can buy medicines with prescription, choose a generic drug, get acquainted with the prices, get advice on using medication, as well as learn about side effects and interactions. The program will offer the client medicines that may be needed in combination with prescribed drug. Supportive care services with secure messages will be created for customers to ensure the safe use of medicines.
Conclusion
Future pharmacies will make online shopping more comfortable and securer. Pharmacies will open additional preventative services and the pharmacist will be able to focus more on advising the client about treatment. The pharmacy will become health consulting center, in which pharmacists will work together with health stations. Online pharmacies will become securer for online advising and the self-serve pharmacy will establish to public and private health stations. The pharmacist will be able to use acquired knowledge in their work and focus on consulting rather than administrative tasks. Changes in the structure of pharmacies will solve the most important problem, as the lack of human resources in pharmacies. Also, it will make health services more accessible to people. The pharmacy of the future is a focus on consulting clients and online services.
The next wave of digitalized life and work
Below I would like to share my ideas about the life of people when the medical field will be even more digitalised.
- In the future, people will increasingly use devices built into their homes, phones, or maybe watches to track their health status. The device will offer solutions, for example, book an appointment to doctor or order medicines, because yours are running out already. Thus, the person will be able to immediately respond to the request of his body and health state. People will need help with devices, that will be configured specifically for them by medical professionals.
- The growth of interest in preventative medicine will increase. Health devices will offer solutions for the prevention of chronic diseases based on previously purchased medicines, health status, career, and activities. Devices will be able to monitor changes in health and make recommendations.
- Elderly people will stay in their homes and continue to live social lives. Tracking the health status of an elderly person with the help of medical devices, the device will provide all the information about the patient and his treatment. The device can remind you to take your medications or order new medications. Also, devices will give various tips to support physical activity.
- Medicines will become available even in the most underpopulated areas through self-service kiosks. The ordered medicines will be brought by a robot and will issue a verbal instruction for use.
In addition, the administrative work of a pharmacist, such as processing prescriptions, will be performed by robots. In the future, the type of activity of the pharmacy will change dramatically, advising will become more digital. Remote customer service and technical skills will be very useful in the pharmacy field.
The general data protection regulation (GDPR)
I process the personal data of clients on a daily basis and it is very important that the client can be sure that his data is protected and will not be forwarded further. We check very strictly that medicines and information about a client is given to the right person. The business of pharmacies is strictly regulated, and drug and patient safety are always at the center of everything. For this reason, digital pharmacies are developing very slowly. I see that it is important for clients to know that their treatment data will not be transferred to anyone, at the same time, this law slows down the development of a digital pharmacy. I think that we are slowly moving towards digitalisation, a solution will definitely be found to the protection of personal data, and at the same time, the digitalisation of pharmacies will move to the next step.
Self evaluation
I learned very interesting information. My personal and work life is very digitalized. I didn’t even notice or pay attention to it. This lesson gave me the opportunity to think a little deeper about the risks, about the importance of data protection, about the advantages of digitalisation, to dream up what will happen in the future with our life and work in the world of digitalisation. I came to the course to learn more about what is actually happening in the digital world. In my field of work, I would like to know more about what technical and legislative difficulties we face in order to make online pharmacies more developed.
Leave a Reply