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June 2025, Editorial Series: Future of Pharmacy
What would it be like to be unsheltered in Phoenix during the dead of summer? Or Las Vegas? Or Austin? Illnesses exacerbated, bodies pushed to their limits.
In late March, Phoenix hit 99°F, just shy of its earliest-ever triple-digit day. It was a warning shot for what many suspected: summer was coming early, and it would be brutal.
By now, we’ve seen the numbers. In 2024, Phoenix saw 70 days above 110°F, the most in recorded history. Maricopa County reported 602 heat-related deaths, many among unsheltered individuals and seniors with chronic illnesses. Pharmacies across the valley reported staff absences, AC system failures, power outages, product recalls due to overheated deliveries.
And behind those stats is a more specific, more human story: this isn’t just a weather crisis. It’s a staffing crisis and a pharmacy crisis.
The Cost of Heat on Healthcare’s Frontline
As the heat intensifies, so do ER visits, medication errors, and refill delays. But what often goes unspoken is what’s happening inside the pharmacy.
In Phoenix, where mail-order prescriptions routinely sit outside in triple-digit temperatures, heat can turn life-saving medications into liabilities. Insulin spoils, inhalers explode, and antibiotics degrade if left in a hot mailbox. "The combination of heat and drug side effects can lead to lightheadedness and falls," said pharmacist Bradley Phillips of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy.
These failures don’t just affect patients; they overwhelm pharmacy workflows. Staff must answer urgent questions about medication efficacy and manage heat-related absences, while working in spaces not built for sustained climate extremes.
The infrastructure around care wasn’t built for this. Our climate is changing faster than our pharmacy systems are.
The New Frontline
Climate volatility is now an upstream driver of medication safety and pharmacy sustainability.
But here’s the twist: In many communities, pharmacists are now acting as first responders. When cooling centers fill up and clinics are closed, the pharmacy is often the last place with the lights on. That makes them responsible not only for dispensing meds, but for holding the line for vulnerable patients during environmental crises.
And they’re doing all of this while overburdened and understaffed. According to the NCPA, over 67% of independent pharmacies report shortages and environmental pressures causing workflow disruptions. These aren’t just operational problems, they’re compounding stressors for a workforce already operating at its limit.
Where ShiftRx Fits In
At ShiftRx, we see pharmacy not just as a healthcare function, but as a human engine.
We’re building tools that make these frontline teams more responsive, more supported, and more sustainable in the face of change. From AI-native scheduling platforms to credentialing automation and responsive staffing, the goal is simple: reduce the friction pharmacy professionals feel when the system falters.
Because when a heatwave hits, you need coverage in hours, not days. You need systems that flex with demand, not collapse under it. We’re not just preparing for climate impacts; we’re helping build pharmacy systems that can adapt within them.
From Heatwaves to Health Waves
We often talk about climate change as a future event. But pharmacy tells us otherwise.
Extreme weather is already reshaping medication safety protocols, staffing patterns, and how we define “access to care.” The faster we integrate climate resilience into pharmacy operations, the more lives we protect. Not just in Phoenix, but in places like Bakersfield, Tulsa, and rural Alabama, where heat meets healthcare inequity head-on.
Sources & Resources:
Phoenix breaks multiple heat records in 2024
Maricopa 2024 heat-related mortality report
Extreme heat and medicine: what to know