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Connected health care: the future of health care and the role of the pharmacist
Author(s) -
Barr Paul J.,
McElnay James C.,
Hughes Carmel M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2010.01522.x
Subject(s) - health care , pharmacist , medicine , telehealth , workforce , nursing , population health , population , health promotion , family medicine , public health , telemedicine , environmental health , pharmacy , economic growth , economics
The population of the world is ageing. As a result, the incidence of chronic disease is projected to increase, there are predicted shortages in health care workforce and budget restraints; implications for future health care provision are serious. The current model of health care is not equipped to deal with these changes. Connected health care, via the use of health informatics, disease management and home telehealth technologies, has been suggested as an approach to ease the projected strain on future health care. Evidence to date suggests a positive impact of the use of connected health care model; however, the majority of studies have overlooked the involvement of the community pharmacist. As the most common point of contact with primary health services for most of the population, the community pharmacist may be well placed to provide connected health care. The research to date is promising with improvements in outcomes for cardiovascular patients noted; however, further work is required to investigate the potential role the community pharmacist can play in the future of connected health care.