Constructive debate: A task for all pharmacy leaders

Abstract

While the future is always uncertain, today’s pharmacy leaders are faced with a particularly wide range of challenges. Therefore, if hospital pharmacy departments are to create well-informed strategic plans, forecasting future events is as important an exercise as ever. To this end, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) has recently published the inaugural Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2021.1 The impetus for developing this document arose from the success of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists’ (ASHP) Pharmacy Forecast which, over the past decade, has grown to become a key feature of the Society’s educational landscape.2 It has become a much-anticipated annual publication used by multiple pharmacy practice sectors as a tool to anticipate and plan for future demand, service provision and leadership. Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2021 is a new strategic thought leadership piece on emerging trends and phenomena forecasted to impact pharmacy practice and the health of Australian patients to 2026 developed by SHPA utilising ‘wisdom of crowds’ methodology. It is anticipated that Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2021 will help equip hospital pharmacy departments to proactively position themselves and their teams for potential future events and trends with contextualised recommendations by the report’s authors. The Forecast, then, is a stimulant to prompt discussion that assists health system leaders in their strategic planning efforts, in their mission to provide optimal care for patients and advancing the profession of pharmacy. As a process and an output, the Forecast sits adjacent to SHPA’s advocacy activities and membership frameworks. This important distinction befits the unique methodology with the themes’ questions, analysis and recommendations distilled directly from leading hospital pharmacists and their colleagues based on their experiences in a range of roles, covering all Australian jurisdictions and unrestrained by organisational limitations. It is anticipated the value of the report will be found through its use by pharmacy practitioners and pharmacy leaders to inform strategic planning. The unique methodology is by no means intended to either qualitatively or quantitatively predict future events. Rather, the report should be used as a prompt to stimulate discussion, informed by the themed analysis provided by Australian subject matter experts and including associated recommendations. Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2021 presents current and future challenges to hospital pharmacy care provision, identified by a broad cross-section of the Australian landscape. The report is divided into six themes: ‘Workforce of the future’, ‘Workforce resourcing’, ‘Reliability of supply’, ‘Medication complexity and access’, ‘Medication safety’ and ‘Electronic revolution’. While many of the identified themes will not be surprising to the reader, it is anticipated the recommendations will provide sound advice and guidance on how to approach issues common to many, such as: addressing barriers to new clinical initiatives; investing and developing the pharmacy technical workforce; unifying efforts to fortify procurement; centralising medication safety in workforce planning; and maximising the benefits offered through electronic systems and telehealth. It may be that not all will agree with the opinions and recommendations of the Forecast Panellists and theme authors. This is to be expected and, indeed, hoped for, as it will generate constructive debate, one of the objectives in creating the report. The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.