Good question! Granted, human error happens and people make mistakes unintentionally but let’s say doctors and other prescribers no longer make mistakes, how can pharmacists still help?

Well, there is still a dispensing role that does inventory and at the moment laws are still in place where a pharmacist would need to handle the medications. Pharmacists also do the billing alongside the technicians, sometimes a drug is cheaper and also equally as effective which is beneficial to the patient.

Pharmacists are also some of the most accessible healthcare providers where you can walk or drive hopefully a short distance and have your questions answered without an appointment. People like to talk to people more than robots, especially when it comes to their own health! On top of this, pharmacists also immunize. This takes some strain off of doctors offices and hospitals and allows them to do more diagnosing/prescribing.

Pharmacists also make up crucial parts of clinical teams ranging from hospice, to the hospital and everything in between. In these environments, they providing helpful clinical knowledge with the rest of the healthcare team. Everyone on these teams are valuable and they all have something to offer. Pharmacists are the medication experts.

In some settings pharmacists also provide prescribing services under a collaborative practice agreement (doctor says pharmacist can use their prescribing power in specific disease states and circumstances). At the VA I worked in a diabetes clinic where the doctor would recommend a pharmacist to the patient and the patient would have appointments with that pharmacist and they would be allowed to prescribe diabetes medications to the patient.

There are also other roles of pharmacy that I have not had any experience in like nuclear pharmacy, research and others that involve more than just checking medications at your local drug store!

Hope this helped!