Professionalism

Professionalism

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines professionalism as the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person. Yet the White Paper on Pharmacy Student Professionalism says it is displaying values, beliefs and attitudes that put the needs of another about your personal needs. There is still another definition. The Medical Professionalism Project says professionalism is the basis of medicine’s contract with society. It demands placing the interests of patients above those of the physician, setting and maintaining standards of competence and integrity, and providing expert advice to society on matters of health. In my opinion, a person’s attitude, values, and behaviors are influenced greatly by the environment they grew up in. With every person’s environment being different, every person’s view of professionalism would be different. So since these traits are entwined in our personality, they cannot be taught to an individual. Also, I believe that the definition of professionalism is different for every person considering every single person’s morals and values of life are different.

The accusation of pharmacy schools becoming trade schools is an outrage. The statement was made signaling that pharmacists have the ability to stop the growing trend. With all of the laws and restrictions put upon us, how are we supposed to be viewed as a medical field? To make matters worse, most pharmacists and pharmacy students do not truly believe in our medical field status: read the scripts, fill the prescription, and send the patient on their way. How do we expect the patients to believe in the duty of our field when we do not believe in the duty ourselves? We need to believe that we are an irreplaceable piece of society and be proud to be a pharmacist. If we want to fix the view of our field, we have to start with ourselves.

To help keep prestige in the pharmacy profession, family physicians should no longer prescribe medications and should only write the ailment on the prescription. This would allow pharmacists, who are the drug experts, to prescribe the drugs. This only makes sense to let doctors figure out what is wrong and the pharmacist to make the correct decision on the prescription. Half the time the pharmacist has to call the doctor anyways because they prescribed the wrong medicine or the wrong dosage.

The other allegation of pharmacists tricking patients into declining their counseling is hilarious in my opinion. This scenario is like any other prejudice view, a couple of bad pharmacists make the entire profession look bad. Although I have never worked in a pharmacy, I would rather believe that a pharmacist would not do that to a patient. I have more faith in the profession. If, however, this is a common practice, there is not really much anyone can do about it. The only thing you can do is be the best pharmacist you can be, and if you do the right thing people will follow you and do the right thing.

Being a professional does not automatically gain a person prestige. Prestige is earned by the amount of time and effort it took to get to where you are at. The knowledge needed to keep drugs from interacting and making sure people are safe should be how prestige of pharmacists is scored, not by how professional a pharmacist is. In my opinion, I could relay more knowledge and information to a person in a relaxed situation than in a professional situation. Most of the patients being dealt with are intimidated by a suit, tie, and lab coat behind a counter telling them what to do. In a relaxed situation with mutual respect between the pharmacist and patient, much more will be accomplished. Respect is earned and not handed out. That is one thing I believe a lot of people do not understand.

I think pharmacists in private pharmacies are more professional