ABSTRACT
Diagnosis education is explicitly included in the Draft Accreditation Standards 2025 and should be wholeheartedly supported. To address the staggering number of diagnostic errors in the US, the National Academy of Medicine advocates for diagnosis education for all health professions. Misperceptions of pharmacists' involvement in diagnosis are exacerbated by use of implicit language and euphemisms, and it's long overdue that we provide clarity. Pharmacists are engaged in diagnosis and diagnostic reasoning in everyday practice whether realized or not. Diagnosis education is implicitly included in US pharmacy curricula in the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process, and it is time to give students the language to engage in it responsibly to be practice-ready in all states. The explicit inclusion of diagnosis in the Draft Standards 2025 has positive implications for education, practice, and graduates.
ABSTRACT
This study sought to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community pharmacy practice and its workforce. Interviews were conducted with 18 key informants from pharmacy associations and community pharmacists representing chain and independent pharmacy organizations across the United States from January to May 2022. Interview notes were analyzed using a rapid content analysis approach. Four themes resulted: (a) patient care at community pharmacies focused on fulfilling COVID-19 response needs; (b) pharmacists' history as immunizers and scope of practice expansions facilitated COVID-19 response efforts; (c) workforce supply shortages impeded COVID-19 response efforts and contributed to burnout; and (d) maintaining community pharmacy workforce's readiness will be critical to future emergency preparedness and response efforts. Formalizing scope of practice expansion policies and reimbursement pathways deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic could facilitate the community pharmacy workforce's ability to address ongoing public health needs and respond to future public health emergencies.
