Today I encountered a Martian. He was three feet tall, with luminous eyes and cheeks made of cheese. You would not have believed it unless you had have seen it. And there lies the paradox that confronts us all. For is not the essence of all truths the privilege to see for oneself? Seeing is believing.
We pharmacists intuitively assume that the public can assess our worth by the things they do not see. For example, the efficiency of our dispensing is somehow misguidedly believed to provide that ringing endorsement of our credentials. To paraphrase upon a pharmacist's view of the day: "Gosh - I did X hundred items today and man it was busy". Such a sentiment is surely misleading about the value of our profession.
I would suggest it is the responsibility of all of us to share our expertise through the interface that matters - the pharmacy counter. It is after all there where we are able to transcend the barriers, misconceptions and myths that serve to suppress our rightful place in the health care team. The notion of graduates presiding over the pharmacy counter is a prospect many may feel undermines their worth. The allegiance to a computer perhaps seems to offer a more acceptable and meaningful icon to reconcile the responsibilities of a science graduate. Sadly, such illusions have served to suppress our own profile and impede the potential of the class of pharmacy (P) medicines, which should and must deliver more.
Indeed, is not the very fragility of resale price maintenance itself a casualty to this abdication of our advisory role on the counter? It is impossible for the public to appreciate and empathise with our cause because of the activities we pursue with such energy and commitment from the dispensary. The injection of advice, recommendation and reassurance is an essential distinction between ourselves and grocery.
Unless we take a collaborative responsibility to ensure prominence, then pharmacy becomes yet another point of supply, albeit decorated in the ambience of white coats and attractive points of sale. Distribution from pharmacies in name but not in spirit will not sustain the monopoly we currently enjoy over the P category.
If seeing is believing, we observe a Medicines Control Agency that is anxious to deregulate P medicines to general sale list status. Issues of safety or indeed anything else present no barriers to this agenda. Such attitudes are partly the consequence of our own negligence and failures to recognise the value and significance of shopfront activity. Manufacturers illustrate their commitment to our profession through a plethora of extra value services, including advertising, training, "planogramming" and strategies intended to raise the awareness of both the product and the category. On too many occasions we fail to support those industries by maximising the opportunities our position permits.
We almost believe the industry can somehow cast that elusive wand which transforms products into sterling in a passive, almost effortless manner. I believe industry is ambivalent to the tradition of pharmacies remaining its principal points of distribution. Is not such a predicament at least partially a consequence of our own failure to energise the counter in preference for the tempestuous quick wins we enjoy from dispensing?
In addition to improving P and GSL sales, there are further benefits that can be gained by ensuring a greater presence on the counter. Assisting with prescription reception duties can complement the training needs of staff. Product knowledge and information to support the recommendation of products is more likely to be adhered to if staff are encouraged to use the skills and knowledge they have gained. In my experience, I have found assistants generally to lack self-esteem and the confidence to use the knowledge they gain from the various pharmacy publications. Training material on its own is not sufficient and requires an endorsement from pharmacists in order to ensure that assistants have the confidence to convey their knowledge to customers.
Using our counters as classrooms for advice and recommendation will serve to raise the profile of our pharmacies and aid developing rapport and empathy with customers. It is amazing, in my view, how staff are highly receptive to the small bullet points that we give when selling a product for a minor ailment.
Many proprietors have tactfully reminded me that 80 per cent of their business originates from National Health Service related activity. "Hence, Mr Strachan, a mere 20 per cent of turnover with falling margins from OTC does not deserve or justify the diversion of attention from our core remuneration."
I would reply to such rhetoric by reminding pharmacists that it is possible to reform our procedures in a way that retains control and the ability to undertake dispensing duties without compromising safety or the efficiency of service.
Furthermore, this is possible in even the most hectic of dispensaries and is a procedure that should be encouraged. Many of our colleagues, including the nursing profession and general medical practitioners, appear to denounce our contribution to a more extended role in primary care because of the intensity and physical constraints that managing a dispensary requires. We often fail to maximise the opportunities to convey our knowledge and experience, preserving our energies for the repetitive and mechanical demands of dispensing. Being seen and being heard will command a more receptive audience. It is imperative that pharmacists' credentials are promoted at every opportunity.
Much of my views are, of course, concerned with the powers of expression and the ability to communicate our knowledge and views to others. Communication and the confidence to express our views must become an essential quality in any pharmacist's job description. It is imperative we shed the passive behaviour that has come to exemplify the images we often portray. Taking responsibility and announcing our role with both arrogance and confidence should be the traits for pharmacists in the future.
Our Achilles' heel has always been our apparent shyness and inability to project our worth in a convincing and believable way. Perhaps the fact we are trained to respond reactively to the wishes of GPs rather than in a proactive manner is responsible for the conservative approach we have to informing others. All pharmacists must develop the courage to be proactive, be prepared to make a difference and believe in the value of their contribution. Although we are often cited as drug experts, how many of us really believe in this title? Belief in our status and the confidence, therefore, to communicate to others what we know at every opportunity will surely jolt everyone into valuing our worth.
Ian Strachan is a community pharmacist, training consultant and health writer from Bury, Lancashire