Pharmacists
People also viewed
Calculated automation risk
Low Risk (21-40%): Jobs in this level have a limited risk of automation, as they demand a mix of technical and human-centric skills.
More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.
User poll
Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 31% chance of automation.
What do you think the risk of automation is?
What is the likelihood that Pharmacists will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?
Sentiment
The following graph is included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.
Sentiment over time (quarterly)
Sentiment over time (yearly)
Growth
The number of 'Pharmacists' job openings is expected to rise 5.4% by 2033
Total employment, and estimated job openings
Updated projections are due 09-2024.
Wages
In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Pharmacists' was $136,030, or $65 per hour
'Pharmacists' were paid 183.0% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060
Wages over time
Volume
As of 2023 there were 331,700 people employed as 'Pharmacists' within the United States.
This represents around 0.22% of the employed workforce across the country
Put another way, around 1 in 457 people are employed as 'Pharmacists'.
Job description
Dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. May advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.
SOC Code: 29-1051.00
Resources
Search jobs in your local area
If you're thinking of starting a new career, or looking to change jobs, we've created a handy job search tool which might just help you land that perfect new role.
Comments
Leave a comment
While AI is set to change the role of clinical pharmacists in medication management, it is crucial to understand that AI is not expected to entirely replace them. Instead, AI will eliminate the need for pharmacists to directly prescribe and manage medications, opening up opportunities for collaboration in validating, certifying, and overseeing AI-driven prescribing software. This collaboration will be vital for ensuring the quality, accuracy, and ethical application of AI technology in healthcare. Pharmacists who embrace new roles in a technology-driven future will thrive, using their expertise and technological skills to advocate for their continued involvement in validating and enhancing the performance of AI-driven solutions in medication management. The pharmacists who cling to the past, where the physical presence of a pharmacist was required over digital presence and technological solutions, will be the ones left behind.
AI technology offers cost-effective solutions that surpass Clinical Pharmacists in medication reviews, questioning the need for non-physician involvement in assessing patients' medication effectiveness and appropriateness. As AI becomes more integrated into healthcare, it has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of physician-led prescribing, potentially rendering roles like Clinical Pharmacists obsolete in this aspect. This shift necessitates non-physician healthcare providers to adapt to changing responsibilities, as the tasks of prescribing and evaluating medication appropriateness and effectiveness, in a healthcare setting, will no longer be within their domain.
However, AI is not expected to completely replace Clinical Pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Instead, it will remove the necessity for these professionals to directly prescribe and review medications, creating opportunities for collaboration in validating, certifying, developing, and managing AI-driven prescribing software in healthcare settings and software companies. This collaboration is crucial for ensuring the quality and reliability of the technology, as public trust in AI outcomes will require continuous validation and certification from other healthcare professionals.
The decision on who will provide these ongoing validations, whether it will be led by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or clinical pharmacists, remains uncertain as the healthcare landscape evolves. If none of these professions takes on this role, physicians are likely to step in, seizing the chance to further establish themselves as the most qualified authorities in medication management.
While Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and Clinical Pharmacists have sought to expand their roles over time, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software presents a significant shift. AI technology has the potential to disrupt this trend by offering cost-effective solutions that surpass the capabilities of Clinical Pharmacists in medication review. This development challenges the traditional arguments used to justify the involvement of non-physician providers in prescribing practices.
As AI software becomes more prevalent in healthcare, it is poised to enhance the efficiency of Physician-managed prescribing processes, potentially rendering the need for Clinical Pharmacists and other non-physician prescribers obsolete. This shift may prompt a reevaluation of the costs associated with employing these professionals outside their traditional scope. While AI is not expected to entirely replace Pharmacists and other healthcare providers, it will redirect their focus towards their core competencies, creating new opportunities for collaboration with Physicians and technology companies.
The evolving landscape of healthcare will require Pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to pivot towards roles that align with their original training, while also offering them opportunities to contribute to the development and maintenance of AI-driven prescribing software. This collaboration will be essential in ensuring the quality and reliability of these technological advancements, thereby fostering trust among the public in the outputs generated by such systems.
Physicians, unlike the general public, are trained experts in diagnosing and treating patients, with prescribing medications falling within their domain rather than that of pharmacists. While pharmacists traditionally excel in reviewing medication therapies, the integration of AI in data analysis is reshaping the landscape. This technological advancement is expected to reduce the necessity for clinical pharmacists to conduct extensive reviews in clinical settings. With physicians inputting data into AI systems for analysis and interpreting the outputs themselves, there will be a significant decrease in the previous reliance on pharmacists for medication optimization assessments.
The evolving role of AI may assume tasks previously handled by Clinical Pharmacists, such as ensuring prescribed medications align with patient needs and care goals. However, Pharmacists will still play a crucial role in training, updating, and refining AI systems to adapt to changing regulations and advancements in medicine. The responsibility will increasingly fall on Informatics Pharmacists, Information Technology Pharmacists, Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, and Software Engineers, rather than solely on Clinical Pharmacists.
With technology playing an expanding role in the Pharmaceutical Industry, there will be a growing need for regulatory frameworks to supervise the sector. This shift will create a demand for Pharmacists specializing in Compliance and Regulatory Affairs within pharmacies. Increased site inspections will become necessary, requiring Pharmacists to intensify their monitoring efforts. Pharmacists will also face a rising burden of conducting independent assessments and detailed reporting to ensure that the technologies utilized comply with industry standards and regulations.
They had 0% human error in the years they launched it. This is so pharmacists can do more patient care which I think is a great idea. But for those who didn’t do residency vs those that did, I’m sure employers will choose the residency trained pharm over the non residency trained pharm.
Maybe the option to not do residency will diminish in the future.
There’s already low applicants as of this year with over 90% acceptance rates. It’s crazy bc seeing how much it was in demand ten years ago.
I think sooner or later other hospitals will follow, along with other companies in terms of AI and robots. Community pharmacists will have issues in the future if robotics are indeed what companies will invest in. Invest in robotics and you won’t have to pay 130-180k for each human to do the same job. They might be highly trained, but the job used to be on the job training, used to be Bachelor level. Lots of admin work. The whole PharmD was from greedy leaders that wanted to take advantage of the loans for higher education. Sucks.
I really feel sad for how ignorant and out of touch with reality (oblivious of common sense) some programmers are in their confidence with automating pharmacy
If in any case, an AI becomes so advanced that it's capable of doing everything, we might as well lose all other jobs, including those in the I.T. industry and Data Science. This field is much easier for them to replicate. Just imagine an AI who can command other AI programs; it would not need many people anymore. It would only need a very few to act as their Quality Analyst or something related.
Besides, do people really think of Pharmacists only as community pharmacists? There are so many careers in this field. I'm sure an AI can't conduct its own pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, and even patient counseling. You might think, "Oh, but an AI can do the patient counseling too." I think this is also a good time for Pharmacists to level up from compounding and dispensing to counseling and focusing on clinical skills.
Also, just like what I told you, there are still so many people who prefer to talk to a human rather than an AI. I know this since I work as a Chat Support for a Telecommunications Company and believe me, they would always tell me they hated our automated system, which I think is a pretty advanced system since they can already do troubleshooting, discuss billing, and even purchase products or services through AI. However, these people still always wanted to talk to a human person no matter how many times we provide them self-service options.
If the time comes that it becomes so advanced, trust me, all existing jobs would perish and only a number of people will be left to monitor, control, and regulate these machines. I'm surprised that the majority of people who work in I.T., including Decision Science and Data Science, aren't afraid of AI and seem to think they know everything that a Pharmacist studies.
Remember, biochemical processes aren't always the same. That's why different pharmaceutical products are created just for a single illness. This is because the human body is so unique that each and every person has their own biological, physiological, and psychological reaction to drugs. We still don't fully understand cancer and other illnesses and disorders. Cells are so complicated that they can react to a single substance in a good or bad way. Certain drugs can have its own effects on the human anatomy.
I do not claim to know everything. I am not even a pharmacist. However, I studied almost 2 years of Medical Laboratory Science before I stopped due to financial issues. This is also the reason why I believe that each healthcare profession will not be removed. Instead, there will be changes with their roles and practices.
I'm certain that all professions would find its way to evolve no matter how much we rely on technology. Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Psychology, and all other allied health professionals aren't just pure science. It also includes art. That's why these professions are always stated to be both science and an art. It is so much more than just theoretical concepts since it also involves practical applications.
Leave a reply about this occupation