Next-Gen Pharmacy and Digital Technology: A Real Solution or Just a Dream against the Rise Of Chronic Diseases?

After Covid-19 pandemic, Italian national healthcare problems have become more evident. These are further intensified by population aging, which is associated with a rise in chronic conditions, In such an evolving scenario, the potential of community pharmacy and digital health technologies remains underexploited. Through the GenNext project, TradeLab, a firm specialized in consultancy, analytical services, and profes sional training for the pharmaceutical industry, aims to explore the needs and future outlook of the new gen eration pharmacies and the use of digital tools in chronic patient care. To this end, young pharmacists (under 35 years old), medical doctors and citiziens were interviewed. Specif ically, pharmacists and physicians, participated in workshops. Citiziens’ opinions were gathered through C.A.W.I. interviews. Other two workshops involving young physicians, divided in general practitioners and specialists, were structured around a predefined discussion guide, developed from a pre-task questionnaire, previous pharmacists’ workshops and a citizen survey. The survey conducted on over 1000 pharmacists re vealed innovation, personalized care, community well-being, and digitalization as key pillars of next-genera tion pharmacies. Expected developments include clinical referrals, diagnostic support and screening. Desired digital implementations encompass apps and websites for purchasing and service access, as well as AI for customer assistance and technologies for patient support and monitoring. Despite this promising outlook, lack of funding, limited collaboration with other healthcare professionals and insufficient training remain significant challenges. The citizen survey found that over 90% of respondents expressed support for increased collabo ration between pharmacists and physicians. Digital tools such as shared access to the Electronic Health Rec ord (EHR), digital monitoring and automated reminders for appointments and medication adherence were seen as valuable strategies to improve healthcare management. Expanding pharmacists' roles to include prescription renewal was also viewed as beneficial in patient care. Relationships between medical doctors and pharmacies are often poorly structured and may even be conflict ual. However, pharmacists’s support in remote monitoring and medical device management are perceived as potential areas for collaboration in chronic care management, as long as they remain within professional boundaries.