Learn more about the duties, practice settings, typical workdays, and educational opportunities, as well as personal advice from pharmacists in this practice area.
What is infectious diseases (ID) pharmacy?
Infectious diseases pharmacy is a pharmacy practice area in which pharmacists provide pharmacotherapy recommendations for patients with infectious-related problems. ID pharmacists are experts in antimicrobial pharmacotherapy for bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. They frequently work as part of a multidisciplinary team with ID physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, microbiologists, and infection control personnel. ID pharmacists are also key leaders of antimicrobial stewardship programs to promote judicious and appropriate use of antimicrobials.
Where does an ID pharmacist work?
An ID pharmacist may practice in a variety of settings, but these primarily include hospitals/health-systems, ambulatory care clinics, at schools or colleges of pharmacy, or pharmaceutical industry.
Inpatient clinical ID pharmacists are primarily responsible for assisting in the pharmaceutical care of patients with infections. They may round or be the point person for ID consultation services for both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts. They may also help develop inpatient protocols related to ID.
Antimicrobial stewardship pharmacists (ASP) are key leaders in antimicrobial stewardship programs and provide drug expertise. They are involved with clinical service, but are also involved with program management, analytics, reporting, and education. There is often overlap between responsibilities of inpatient clinical ID pharmacists and antimicrobial stewardship pharmacists.
Outpatient clinical ID pharmacists primarily work in ambulatory care clinic settings. These often include HIV- or Hepatitis C-focused clinics, but may also include other outpatient-related ID problems. ID pharmacists are also involved with outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) to provide care and monitoring for patients discharged from health-system settings to the outpatient setting on intravenous antimicrobial agents.
Academic ID pharmacists work at colleges or schools of pharmacy, though they have more responsibilities in education and research related to ID. Some academic ID pharmacists are more research-focused with benchtop research whereas others are more focused on clinical research. Academic ID pharmacists frequently have a clinical practice site where they precept student pharmacists and provide clinical ID pharmacy services.
Pharmaceutical industry ID pharmacists generally work for pharmaceutical companies that develop antimicrobial agents. They may be involved in several capacities including research, drug development, education, and marketing.
What does a typical workday look like?
For an ID pharmacist, a typical workday will vary depending on the specific practice setting. As an academic ID pharmacist with a clinical practice site, every day is different and exciting. A clinical ID pharmacist primarily rounds with the ID consultation service to provide evidence-based recommendations for patients with infectious-related problems. Other duties include performing literature reviews in response to drug information questions, communicating with the microbiology laboratory regarding cultures and susceptibilities, performing antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and therapeutic drug monitoring, and counseling patients on their antimicrobial agents upon discharge. Patient care rounds typically occur in the afternoon, so ID pharmacists can spend mornings evaluating ID consult patients, as well as working on research/scholarship projects, educational activities, service responsibilities and meetings, and administrative tasks. An academic ID pharmacist often precepts student pharmacists and pharmacy residents at the clinical practice site. There also may be a dedicated antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist, and in this case, an ID pharmacist may assist with these responsibilities as needed.
What educational opportunities are available for pharmacists in this area?
- Many pharmacists in this field complete work toward being BCPS certified. To find out more about board certification, you can visit the Board of Pharmacy Specialties Board Certification webpage.
- ASHP offers excellent ID-related CE programming at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and through ASHP online/virtual CE programs.
How can I learn more about this career path?
- ASHP has a Resource Center on Infectious Diseases for more information, webinars, and other tools to learn more about this career path.
- ASHP’s Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists (SCSS) also provides an infectious diseases roundtable discussion at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting.
- There are entries in AJHP that discuss the pharmacist’s role in ID: ASHP statement on the pharmacist’s role in antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention and control (Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2010;67(7):575-7).
Member Career Profiles
Wesley D. Kufel, Pharm.D., BCIDP, BCPS, AAHIVP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences – Binghamton, NY
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, State University of New York Upstate Medical University – Syracuse, NY
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Infectious Diseases, State University of New York Upstate Medical University – Syracuse, NY
What interested you in pharmacy and this career path?
“I found ID pharmacy very interesting and challenging when I was learning about this area in my pharmacotherapeutics course in pharmacy school. As such, I pursued an ID/antimicrobial stewardship APPE rotation, which was my first real exposure to ID pharmacy and antimicrobial stewardship. I wanted to pursue postgraduate residency training to ultimately lead to a pharmacy career in ID and academia. During my PGY1 pharmacy residency at the State University of New York Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, NY, I completed my ID rotation early on in the academic year and took an HIV clinic rotation as an elective to further my ID knowledge and skills. I went on to complete a PGY2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, NC, to further gain specialized knowledge in ID pharmacy, which has led to my current career. Overall, I love my job and am glad my career path has led me here!”
What advice do you have for someone interested in this career field?
“As a student pharmacist interested in ID pharmacy, I recommend to try to schedule and/or preference an ID/antimicrobial stewardship APPE rotation (preferably within the first 6 months of APPEs). This will allow you time to build upon your foundational ID knowledge and assist in providing evidence-based pharmaceutical care to patients with ID-related problems. Completion of this APPE rotation within the first six months of the P4 year will allow you to decide if ID pharmacy is right for you as you pursue PGY1 pharmacy residency programs. Furthermore, your ID preceptor would potentially be an excellent letter of recommendation writer to have if you are interested in ID pharmacy. It may also be worth searching for residency programs that have both a PGY1 program and an ID residency program at the same institution. Paths can change for a variety of reasons, but everything ends up working out in the end!”
Member Spotlight
Jason Schafer
Credentials: Pharm.D., BCPS, AAHIVE
Position/Title: Assistant Professor
Organization:Jefferson School of Pharmacy
Primary Specialty: Infectious Disease
Specialties: HIV
