Robots killed the Pharmacist role?

We are all familiar with the song: "Video killed the Radio Star", it's a catchy tune and also a factual statement. Very unfortunate for all the "radio stars" that were weeded out by the emergence of video....but this is just a product of technology, societal advancements and competition. It happens, and no profession or job will be immune to such changes. Not to say all professions or jobs will be eliminated, but they will surely see some sort of dramatic fundamental changes as we barrel ahead into the future of technological advancements. As a current pharmacy student, I can't help but seeing all the warning signs of dramatic fundamental changes that are occurring within the profession of Pharmacy as we speak.

I stumbled upon this article by MSNBC titled, "Nine jobs that humans may lose", and it got me thinking about the traditional role of the Pharmacist as a dispenser of medication first, and an active patient-centered health practitioner second. Surely paying a pharmacist six-figures and above to merely dispense pills is not an effective or efficient use of our knowledge, training and expertise. Nor does it make a lot of sense financially to a company's bottom-line and business model. One institution and business has taken a real hard look at this situation and has implemented a real life solution by creating two fully robotic pharmacies. The UCSF Medical Center has implemented these fully operational all robotic pharmacies at their hospitals in Parnassus and Mount Zion. The goal: to make the complete operation of dispensing medication robotic, eliminate human-made medication errors, and free up the Pharmacists and Nurses to focus on direct patient care.

I think this sounds quite interesting, I'm hopeful it can be a launching pad to promote the Pharmacist as a "real" health care practitioner on par with a Doctor, etc. But for many others, this may be a very gloomy revelation and they may feel like their profession is under attack by robots. That's the biggest problem within our Pharmacy profession, the division of where we stand regarding our role in the Health Care system and our inability to advance our profession based upon our expertise and clinical knowledge. So many pharmacists want to remain hidden behind the counter, they want limited patient interaction and they merely want to count, lick, stick and pour meds all day. Unfortunately, this model of pharmacy is akin to the radio star...and technology is proving that those tasks can be done for a fraction of the cost all the while eliminating med errors and increasing patient safety.

So, what will the future of pharmacy look like? What will the role of the Pharmacist be in tomorrow's health care system? That's up to all of us in the pharmacy profession. Will we embrace the role of technology? Will we resist change? We are at a very critical moment in the profession of Pharmacy, the role we play is being greatly debated and is and will likely dramatically change. It doesn't matter if we work at a hospital or retail chain, the changes are happening all around. Maybe Pharmacy Informatics is the wave of the future?