Beyond the Pill: Community Pharmacy as a Digital Hub

The community pharmacy stands at a critical juncture. Possessing unparalleled accessibility and public trust, its potential as a proactive healthcare provider remains largely untapped due to fragmented information systems. This presentation outlines a transformative vision: repositioning the community pharmacy from a dispensary to an integrated digital health hub, powered by shared eHealth Records (eHRs).

The current challenge, where pharmacists often "work in the dark," lacking access to crucial data from GPs and hospitals, leading to missed interventions and reactive care will first be explained. The core of the presentation will then demonstrate how integrated eHRs are the key to overcoming this. Through practical use cases—from post-discharge medication reconciliation and chronic disease management to streamlined medication packaging—how a unified patient record enables pharmacists to deliver safer, more efficient, and clinically robust services will be illustrated.

Finally, the path forward, acknowledging barriers like interoperability and funding, while painting a future where pharmacists evolve into essential "health and data navigators." will be addressed. This session shows that how leveraging digital infrastructure is essential for community pharmacy to fully realize its role at the heart of patient-centered care, moving beyond the pill to provide unparalleled value to the modern healthcare ecosystem.