Published by Computachem Services

P.O Box 297.
Alstonville. 2477
NSW Australia

Phone:
61 2 66285138

We read with interest how pharmacy consistently scores well in "most trusted profession" surveys but it was only recently I came to realise how strong this trust can be.
As part of my liaison duties with other government bodies I was making a presentation to a group of "peer educators" on drugs and falls.
This group, made up of lay people with an interest in the topic, became quite animated at times and opened up to me about their medications and concerns.
I thought nothing of this because, like all of my colleagues, I am quite used to hearing somewhat intimate details of my clients' lives. It happens every day.

Talking to the organisers of the session after we had finished I was quite taken aback by the amazement of these non pharmacist public servants in the amount of private information freely given to me.
This brought home to me just how strong is the trust we pharmacist engender in the general populace, despite the constant sniping our profession suffers at the hands of members of those "highly trusted" groups, namely journalists and politicians!

Trust has the potential to become our profession's greatest weapon it its fight for survival. The people trust us way above all other professions (except nursing) so why do we have to continually fight off the "powers of darkness"?

Will we be able to harness the people's trust or will it be merely a fleeting moment as pharmacy, in its present state, is submerged under the weight of big business and government legislation?

How the profession maintains its standing with patients/customers/clients remains a mystery, given that pharmacists are consistently made the "fall guys" for changes to the PBS.
This weekend I saw the first advertisements about the need for patients to show pharmacists their Medicare cards from May 1 to get subsidised drugs, a whole ten days before it comes into effect! Pharmacists have been trying to get this message across for over twelve months, often to the annoyance of their clients - all for ten cents per script!
I'm sorry but I do not consider it the role of community pharmacists to explain government policy, even for the princely sum of ten cents per script.
As I have written previously, thank goodness May 1 is not a Saturday when the possibility might arise that I would have to be the first to charge a pensioner $100+ for an item he or she received for $3.60 in April just because no Medicare card is proffered.
This should really see test the strength of pharmacy's trust factor.
Personally I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks.
I ask why no pressure has been placed on the medical profession to ensure that doctors do not write scripts for ineligible persons, why should the pharmacist be the one to police the changes to regulations? My colleagues at the PBS tell me the reason the onus is placed on pharmacists is because it is the pharmacist who is claiming payment.
This concept is one that the Guild should have fought tooth and nail to prevent, we're health professionals not policemen.
We have all seen the speculations about the proposed rise in PBS patient contribution rates so I expect to again hear the accusation that "you pharmacists have raised your charges".
Pharmacy will once more bear the brunt of public anger arising from decisions outside its control.

I am sure that you have all seen in the media the old chestnut of pharmacy overcharging its customers and how you can save "hundreds of dollars" by going to mail order pharmacies.
The i2P magazine, as one would expect, is a strong advocate of the internet pharmacy concept, but will this be able to engender the trust that the local pharmacist has developed over years of hard work?

Pharmacy's very existence will depend on cognitive services, and these rely on there being high levels of trust. I fear that continual attacks on the profession will finally erode this trust, and pharmacy will become more vulnerable.
Pharmacy organisations should look to how nursing, the only profession with a higher trust rating than ours, uses its standing with the public in its fights for advancement.
I just wish our public relations machine was as effective as that of the ANF.
Nurses want a pay rise, guess what- a story suddenly appears in the media about staff shortages, overwork and lack of remuneration.
We find that the editorial sections of newspapers are filled with letters from members of the public, supporting those "poor, overworked nurses" and so the issue progresses.
Pharmacists are just much in short supply, overworked and under paid but I have yet to see numerous letters supporting any claim for the profession.
Trust can be so powerful, let us use it or we may find it to be merely a fleeting moment of fame for pharmacy.

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