How to Practice as a Functional Medicine Pharmacist

If you’ve come to understand what Functional Medicine is, and how to get trained or certified in it, your next question may be “how do I actually practice it as a pharmacist?”

Here are 16 Ways to Practice Functional Medicine as a Pharmacist:

1. Integrate Functional Medicine in your existing role! You don’t have to change jobs or careers in order to start applying the functional medicine lens to help improve patient outcomes. 
2. Work in a compounding pharmacy. Most functional medicine physicians work closely with compounding pharmacists for products like BHRT or LDN, among other treatments. (Here’s a podcast on why they are essential in FxMed!)
3. Start your own Functional medicine telehealth practice in your state as a pharmacist (take our course to learn how!)
4. Join a team-based Functional Medicine telehealth practice as a pharmacist (see PharmToTable)
5. Start a Functional Medicine telehealth practice as a “health coach” (proceed with caution: “There is a firm belief by most lawyers in this industry that, without a proper license in the state where the patient is located, coaches should not order, diagnose, or interpret lab tests.”)
6. Become a consultant pharmacist and apply functional medicine principle for pharmacies and/or for doctors offices (we recommend the Pharmapreneur Academy to learn more)
7. Develop an online course to teach about a specific niche you are passionate about (may combine with labs/supplements)
8. Work in a physician office under collaborative practice agreement (here’s a great blog about them)
9. Work in retail pharmacy and implement functional medicine principles where possible (download our Functional Medicine Pharmacist Quick Start Checklist)
10. Work in a hospital and implement functional medicine principles where possible (download our Functional Medicine Pharmacist Quick Start Checklist)
11. Work in nursing homes or with elderly populations and implement functional medicine principles such as deprescribing where possible (download our Functional Medicine Pharmacist Quick Start Checklist)
12. Implement a Pharmacogenomics program with a focus on epigenetics
13. Teach at a college of pharmacy and integrate functional medicine into the curriculum
14. Write a blog/become an influencer in the functional medicine space and use affiliate marketing 
15. Open an online dispensary from a company like Fullscript, Wellevate, Kaewell, or Doctor’s Supplement Store.
16. Create your own supplement line! Companies like Xymogen can “white label” their supplements with your branding on them. Or, you can create a custom line by working with a manufacturing company.

Do you have another unique practice model that should be listed here? Contact us and we’d love to hear about it! If you need help deciding on a path forward, join us for the Functional Medicine Pharmacists Bootcamp course.