The community pharmacy eras tour: …Are we ready for it? Why our next era requires leaning into community-based pharmacy post-graduate training programs.

Community-based practice is an area of pharmacy that has accelerated its innovation significantly in the last decade. Pandemics, policies, and the needs of our communities have challenged this innovation. Post-graduate community-based pharmacy training programs (CPTPs) allow for community-based pharmacies to continue the work they are doing while developing new initiatives with trainees who are driven by learning, implementation, and creativity to create deliverables and complete projects during their training program. CPTPs are needed to fuel and support our profession if we want to continue to promote pharmacies as a critical hub in communities- providing not only medications, but also educational and clinical services that are crucial to the public. They also enhance the practice management skills of trainees, shaping their understanding of the critical analysis that is required in considering new business initiatives. Overall, CPTPs should continue to be promoted as a solid pathway towards developing the next generation of community-based pharmacists as well as enhancing the acceleration and adoption of the next era of community pharmacies as public health hubs.