Most Trusted Profession? So Why Aren’t They Nicer To Us?
I came across this article which mentions something we’ve read in similar studies and articles that state that pharmacists are the top, or in the top three usually, most trusted professions. I wonder if we still feel this to be the case for a couple reasons.
In a recent post I mention the move toward discount pharmacies. While this may have some positives for the public on their bottom line when visiting the pharmacy, there are somedraw backs I will discuss later, but for now I want to focus on the issue of trust. Going back a few years, I don’t really think you need to go back to far, lets say, maybe four or five years ago, the public did not have a clear concept on drug pricing. The pharmacy would charge what they charge and that was that. Now, for those in the pharmacy profession, I think we can agree previously we were charging reasonable prices and this helped support what is effectively a small business for the owner and all the costs involved, as well as having many staff on hand so when a customer walked in wait was minimal. Secondly, there is an onus of responsibility on the pharmacist who has also dedicated much time and expense in becoming qualified, so in line with similar professions, monetary reimbursement is expected. In general, it was a fair system.
We seem to have shot ourselves in the foot now with the level of competition that is occurring. While pharmacy was seen as a profession and not a lot of price competition involved, nor an expectation of this from the public, things have drastically changed. Now when you check your mail you’re likely to find a catalog which includes a price list for almost all the pharmacy chain’s prescription medications. Customers are now getting used to shopping around, price matching, accusing the pharmacist of being a thief when the store he or she happens to work with charges a few dollars extra (probably because they don’t have the same buying power as the pharmacy down the road). If you think that is bad, now we are offering professional services such as medication packs for free (or almost free) and some even go as far to delivery for free, which is fine in some cases but not for people who clearly are abusing the system. We are not showing our profession any respect and treating it like a dime a dozen gift shop.
This is something like Pandora’s Box, we can undo what has been done, the cat is very much out of the bag when it comes to drug pricing and this cannot be unlearned by the public. The saddest part is this was mostly caused by pharmacy groups trying to undercut each others prices to gain more business, which they may have, but in the long run everyone’s profits have dropped. I think this is a reason why being the most trusted profession rank may drop in the near future, and the reason we are being treated harsher by customers. Our customers mostly do not understand the issues involved with what causes a price to be decided for a product, and the fact that in pharmacy Penicillin is Penicillin, they can’t understand for the exact product why is there a difference. This issue, mixed with the general suspicion of generics and why us pharmacists are trying to swap their old brands (not helped by misinformed doctors who further the incorrect stereotype that generics are bad) is only likely to lead to less and less respect for pharmacists. I hope I’m completely wrong.
I include this ad because I think it shows what might have been the right balance of free and professional service while advertising low price. Okay, maybe make the delivery free if you really want to sweeten the deal, but not have a blaring big sign saying 50% off all drugs, which is what is happening in Australia at the moment.
Tags: cheap drugs, chemist warehouse, discount pharmacy, dispensing robot, doctors, drug, drugs, help, medication, medications, pharmacist, pharmacist blog, pharmacy, pharmacy blog, pharmacy chain, pharmacy robot, prescription, prescription medication