In this episode, we will define Digital Health, its categories and examples, describe how pharmacists are involved in DH practice, opportunities and limitations and future of DH. We will also discuss what implications DH has for educators, educational institutions, student pharmacists, pharmacists, and practice of pharmacy in general.

Key Concepts

1. Digital Health is currently a broad umbrella category that uses mobile health, telehealth, web-based platforms, personalized medicine, and IT to provide scalable patient care.
2. There are several focused areas within DH that would impact pharmacy practice by warranting pharmacist oversight or collaborative insights.
3. There is positive data for pharmacist-led DH interventions using mobile apps and web-based tools, but the use of telehealth modality has mixed results.
4. Pharmacists need to stay current in their knowledge and skills for utilizing DH tools in integrative and collaborative patient care.

References

• Aungst TD, Franzese C, Kim Y. Digital health implications for clinical pharmacists services: A primer on the current landscape and future concerns. J Am Coll Clin Pharm. 2020;4(4):514-524. DOI: 10.1002/jac5.1382. https://accpjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jac5.1382
• American Association of Colleges of pharmacies. Digital Health Workshop - Resources. https://www.aacp.org/resource/digital-health-workshop-resources (Lists resources from Digital Therapeutics Alliance and Digital Medicine Society)
• Park T, Muzumdar J, Kim H. Digital Health Interventions by Clinical Pharmacists: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jan 4;19(1):532. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010532. PMID: 35010791; PMCID: PMC8744767.