February 2022
Dear Colleagues,
While being knee-deep in another season of residency recruitment, I was able to spend time deeply reflecting on what we do in the field of pharmacy informatics. From a health system perspective, I think about COVID, and the challenges of implementing and operationalizing new products into practice.
If you work in an EHR, then you know it is not just activating a record into production for CPOE. The pharmacy informatics team becomes the link between many clinical, operational, and financial groups to implement new therapies, immunizations, and services into the medication use process.
One thing that disappoints me is that our project teams are often depicted by the backlog of requests that accumulate. I see things much differently. I look at the pharmacy informatics professional as a catalyst for moving projects and solutions forward in a state of literal chaos. It simply doesn’t matter what pharmacy informatics environment you work in, as healthcare becomes more integrated and dependent on technology, it is becoming even more difficult to bring new technologies and solutions to life into the hands of caregivers and patients. Added to that is the insatiable demand and urgency.
Here is the good news. Our specialty has the capability of bringing solutions to the medication use process in ways no one else can. A professional that combines informatics, clinical-insight, practice experience, project management, and the intricate knowledge of how health systems work is like an agile team in one person. I am a big believer in optimizing the ability of the informatics pharmacist to partner on all medication related technology projects.
And based on the front-line experience of residency interviewing, I can say I see a lot of top-notch pharmacy students and residents aiming their passion towards pharmacy informatics.
Looking internally at our Section, I will start by thanking all of those that participated in the 2021 Midyear Clinical Meeting. There was a lot of great content and networking provided by SOPIT. We truly maximized the use of the virtual environment and it was fun.
Additionally, there is a lot of great work in motion. We started 2022 with part 1 of the Pharmacy Informatics Women Leaders Podcast series. The speakers are inspirational and special thanks to Amey Hugg and Carol White from the executive committee for their work pulling it together. The published Podcasts are located on the Informatics Bytes page, and you should expect to start seeing more as our section advisory groups work on content.
Speaking of SAGs, because of the hard work of our workgroups, SOPIT has no less than three ASHP guidance documents inflight including the “ASHP Statement on the Pharmacy Technician’s Role in Pharmacy Informatics”, the DRAFT “ASHP Guidelines on the Selection, Implementation, and Utilization of Workflow and Robotic Technologies for Preparing Intravenous Compounded Sterile Preparations”, and DRAFT “ASHP Statement on Telehealth Pharmacy Practice”. Thanks for all the hard work our members do to lead these SAGs and work on these various projects. This effort brings value to our membership and profession, so please keep it up.
I encourage you to take a look at ASHP’s updated Strategic Plan. Part of the responsibility of the SOPIT Executive Committee is to build our Strategic Plan based on it, which is currently in progress. This Strategic Plan directs the Section’s priorities and keeps our goals aligned with the rest of ASHP.
Lastly, a happy birthday to SOPIT, which is turning 15 this year, and hope to see you at the Summer 2022 ASHP Summer Meeting!
Respectfully,
Barry M. McClain, Pharm.D., M.S.
Chair, Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology
[email protected]