Pharmacy work is always evolving, especially over the last three years. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is seen everywhere, whether in supply chain or within your independent pharmacy.
Many industries have taken the plunge into remote work. Whether jobs are hybrid or completely remote, the remote work model is seemingly here to stay.
Contrary to what you might think, this sweeping change in work models can apply to your pharmacy work. Pharmacy work is all about patient care, so the standard model will never go out of style.
There are plenty of ways to provide excellent patient care, even in the comfort of your home.
As we’ve said in previous blogs, patient care can go beyond the physical pharmacy. This is one way to make that happen.
Here’s what you need to know about remote pharmacy jobs.
Top Priority: Patient Care
The work-from-home model is not going anywhere anytime soon. This working model can give workers freedom and more flexibility to complete their daily work.
As a remote pharmacist, you would not have to make that daily commute to work. You won’t have to manage those long customer lines or take care of the seemingly endless fill queue.
Remote work generally provides a more relaxing and low-key workflow, which sounds like a foreign language in the pharmacy lexicon.
But don’t put your feet up just yet. Pharmacy work is still pharmacy work, which requires efficient but meticulous attention to detail.
The one drawback to remote pharmacy jobs is that you won’t directly interact with your patients. Patient care will always be at the center of pharmacy work.
Whether you’re four-pointing or electronically counseling patients (more on those later), make sure you always put your best foot forward.
Patient Privacy, an Absolute Necessity
Another key element of remote pharmacy work is patient privacy. Independent pharmacists must be HIPAA-compliant at all times, whether you’re at the pharmacy or at home.
Most companies will require you to work at home instead of public places like coffee shops, libraries, or other work-from-home favorites.
It’s also essential to have a pharmacy software system that has excellent cybersecurity and cloud-based capabilities. Having these features will give your patients the privacy and discretion they deserve.
Though you likely won’t enjoy the aromas of coffee shops or the peaceful ambiance of the great outdoors, remote pharmacy work lets you do what you do best: provide excellent patient care.
Look Into These Remote Pharmacy Jobs
Now that you know the logistics of remote pharmacy work, let’s see what pharmacy work you can do from home. Though you’re mainly restricted to working from home, the job possibilities are incredibly wide-ranging.
Telepharmacy
Telepharmacy is the simplest form of remote pharmacy work. Simply put, telepharmacy jobs have pharmacists perform their usual tasks (patient counseling, verifying prescriptions) within a remote setting.
You would likely be working in a central fill facility or other setting outside a traditional retail pharmacy.
Nevertheless, telepharmacy lets you continue to provide exceptional patient care, regardless if you’re behind the pharmacy counter.
The main downside of telepharmacy — which is the general downside to remote work in general — to telepharmacy is you lack face-to-face interactions with your patients. However, if you prefer the granular, technical side of pharmacy work, telepharmacy could be the job for you.
Medication Therapy Management (MTM)
A step above traditional telepharmacy work, MTM gives you a more hands-on role in remote pharmacy work.
MTM programs let you review patients' profiles — namely their dose changes and adherence scores — and create a therapy plan to optimize their health journey.
This line of pharmacy remote work lets you play an even more active role in your patient’s health. You will likely collaborate with fellow pharmacists and the patient’s doctor to create an optimal therapy plan.
If standard telepharmacy work is too passive, MTM programs might be the way to go, especially if you crave that patient-to-pharmacist interaction.
Be a Teacher
The pandemic has hit every workplace you can think of. All sectors of education continue to feel the brunt of almost a year-and-a-half of hastily-prepared remote learning.
As with work, most educational institutions have adopted a remote/hybrid learning model. As such, pharmacy education is a fantastic kind of remote pharmacy job.
Different institutions have different models. Some require in-person attendance, whereas others give students more flexibility to learn from their homes.
A Frontiers report details the changing state of education quality since the pandemic. It highlights the need for educators to be more adaptable and flexible in these changing times.
In short, the traditional learning model will quickly grow stale in remote environments, but overly radical adjustments can alienate students.
Remote teaching lets you strike that much-needed balance between the new and the old, allowing you to embrace the best of both worlds.
Though it is unlikely you can become a tenured professor through remote teaching, it is an avenue worth looking into.
Pharmacovigilance
If journalists are the watchdogs of society, then pharmacists are the watchdogs of their patient’s health journey. Pharmacovigilance takes this idea up a notch.
The WHO defines pharmacovigilance as “the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects or any other medicine/vaccine-related problem.”
Pharmacovigilance puts a high premium on drug safety, working to put adverse drug reactions to a minimum.
Risk management is the name of the game in pharmacovigilance. Pharmacovigilance consists of the following fields in pharmacy work:
- Casualty assessment
- Signal detection
- Assembling risk management plans
- Drug profiling
Depending on the remote pharmacy job, you might be collaborating with the WHO, International Society of Covigialnce, the International Council of Harmonisation, and others.
Pharmacovigilance is a field of remote pharmacy worth exploring if you are interested in the regulatory and preventative sides of the industry.
Conclusion
Pharmacy work takes all kinds of shapes and sizes. When it comes to remote pharmacy work, it can also take you places (digitally speaking).
Remote pharmacy work is a rapidly growing field in the industry, offering all kind of opportunities to put your own stamp on patient care.
Whether you are looking into education or preventative care, remote pharmacy work can be a fantastic way to further excel in the pharmacy industry.
