Today's Perspective
Kristin Wiisanen, PharmD, FAPhA, FCCP, Pharmacy Today editor in chief
Pharmacy Today is available online and as a print magazine. As with any printed publication, much of our content is finalized when the issue goes to press, which is about 20 days before it makes it to your pharmacy. As I sit down to write this month’s Perspective, I find that this time delay presents me with a unique dilemma as an editor. I am honestly unsure of where we will find ourselves 20 days from now.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented global and public health crisis with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As pharmacists, we have long stood at the forefront of the health care system: first to reach patients and first to provide care. During this difficult time, we continue to press forward in that role, only now on the front lines of a battlefield in which we are working tirelessly against a relentless viral enemy.
How do we navigate these difficult times when each day seems to bring news worse than yesterday and the day before? We stand firm, and we find reasons to hope. As pharmacists and as a health care team, we are resilient. We are innovative and responsive. We are learning exponentially more every day from COVID-19. These lessons will help us improve our health care system and our ability to respond in the future. We are creative, and we are fighters. We will develop new networks, new technologies, new therapies, and new solutions. We are a team, and we are together. We have tools that connect us to each other even in isolation.
I hope that this issue of Today brings you a much-needed sense of connection to your peers. I hope you find encouragement in our Innovations article (page 24) detailing the extraordinary strengths of patients and caregivers with disabilities. I hope you find clinical resources that enrich your practice. I hope you find a moment of mental distraction in this month’s crossword puzzle (page 56).
Most of all, though, I hope you are safe and well. There is no doubt that COVID-19 will change the world and our health care system forever. But it will also bring us together in unprecedented ways, and I am confident that we will emerge from it united, stronger, and better prepared.