Pharmaceuticals

Many patients go to a pharmacy, drop off their prescription, and pick it up a few hours later never understanding the business behind the medication they purchase. With the sharp rise in health care costs and with insurance companies covering less and paying out less, the job of pharmacists have become much more important. So your first question is probably what exactly is a pharmacist? Pharmacists act as a learned intermediary between physicians and patients and ensure the safe and effective use of medications. That is one side of what pharmacists do.

The other side of the pharmacy business is pharmaceutical companies getting their medications into the market. After millions in testing, after the FDA gives you the stamp of approval, it is time to bring your medication to the pharmacy. It is truly a business and not necessarily the best available medication gets to the patients. There is a lot of politics and negotiating that gets a drug onto a pharmacy shelf.

At heart a pharmacist has the best intentions of the patients as a priority. Most pharmacists work for a pharmacy, and the pharmacy is a business, and business is about profits. If the pharmacy has a choice between two medications and they stand to make more money from one medication than they do from another, even if the less expensive medication is better why would they choose to stock it?

What many patients don’t know is that the industry of pharmaceuticals is a multi-billion dollar industry. They have lobbyists in Washington, they have the ear of the FDA, they have power in hospitals, and tons of lawyers. The pharmaceutical industry is a huge machine that dominates the health care debate. Thankfully for patients the greatest equalizer is not money it is knowledge. The internet has so much knowledge and information readily available. Being able to purchase medications on line is a great source of leverage for millions of people.

A pharmacist is a skilled patient care provider and facilitator. He or she is a bridge between patients and the medical professionals that treat them. Patients count on their pharmacist to be highly educated and to be their go to person when it comes to the taking and proper use of medication. A pharmacist is many times also a pharmaceutical sales partner. Because of their understanding of medications and direct contact with patients they understand how to best market medicine to patients.

In any pharmacy you have people, what is the one thing we know about people, they make mistakes. A pharmacist punches the clock like any other person and goes home to their family. A pharmacist has the same issues and problems that we all go through. The best thing a patient can do is to go online and research medications and side affects to make sure it is right for them. No pharmacy technician knows a patient better than the patient knows themselves. The availability of information is the greatest equalizer, what you do with that information is what is of the utmost importance.