Creating a framework for delivering digital and telehealth knowledge to future and current pharmacists

To develop a structured, pharmacy-specific framework that defines the essential digital health and telehealth knowledge and skills required for student pharmacists and practicing pharmacists across educational and practice settings.

An expert panel convened by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists conducted a targeted literature review and environmental scan, followed by an iterative, consensus-driven development process over 18 months. The resulting framework organizes competencies into 7 domains: Technology and Digital Literacy; Patient Communication, Education, and Engagement; Documentation and Information Management; Clinical Assessment and Decision-Making; Operational Management and Workflow Integration; Regulatory Compliance and Ethical Practice; and Quality Improvement and Evaluation. Each domain includes actionable skills aligned with real-world telehealth workflows and mapped to entrustable professional activities to support competency-based education. The framework also incorporates practical curricular applications, including learning objectives, assessment strategies, and experiential activities, to facilitate integration into didactic curricula, experiential training, and continuing professional development. This approach addresses gaps in current pharmacy education, where digital health training is often fragmented, inconsistent, or insufficiently tailored to the pharmacist's role in interdisciplinary care.

This framework provides a comprehensive and adaptable foundation for integrating digital health and telehealth competencies into pharmacy education and practice. By standardizing expectations and aligning training with evolving healthcare technologies, it supports the preparation of pharmacists to deliver safe, effective, and patient-centered care in digitally enabled environments while promoting ongoing professional development and workforce readiness.