Team-Based Care Models Position Pharmacists as Key Wound-Care Partners

As the US healthcare system struggles with provider shortages, rising chronic disease, and growing demand for timely access to care, community pharmacists are increasingly stepping into the role of frontline wound-care triage and support.

In this setting, wounds are not just a clinical issue. Poorly managed cuts, burns, pressure injuries, and chronic wounds can quickly escalate into infections, hospitalizations, and, in the most severe cases, limb loss. Early recognition and intervention are key. Yet in rural areas, where primary care appointments are scarce and specialists may be hours away, the person most likely to see that wound first is the local pharmacist.

In this interview, Nadia Maqbool Ahmad, PharmD, District Engagement Lead Pharmacist at Walgreens, describes how close relationships with physicians, health departments, urgent care centers, emergency rooms, and nurses turn the pharmacy into a true care hub. Patients often visit the pharmacy far more frequently than they see their physician, which means pharmacists are often the first to notice when “something doesn’t look right” or a wound is failing to improve. From encouraging urgent evaluation when red flags appear to reinforcing wound-care plans after clinic visits, pharmacists help connect the dots between different parts of the system.

At the same time, she highlights persistent challenges, including intense time pressures, high workloads, and state scope-of-practice limits that can prevent pharmacists from diagnosing minor infections or prescribing appropriate treatments. As health care shifts toward team-based and value-based care—and as technologies like automation and artificial intelligence begin to offload routine tasks—Ahmad offers a window into how community pharmacists could play an even more formal, impactful role in keeping wounds from becoming full-blown crises.

READ MORE: Wound Care Resource Center

Are you ready to elevate your pharmacy practice? Sign up today for our free Drug Topics newsletter and get the latest drug information, industry trends, and patient care tips straight to your inbox.