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Letters to the Editor
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The profession
CPD will not change patient’s perception of pharmacists
From Miss S. D. Patel, MRPharmS
As a community pharmacist I find that there are some customers who value
my expertise and who perceive me to be a professional person. My interaction
with these people gives me immense job satisfaction. However, many I
serve seem to regard the pharmacist as no more than a glorified shop
worker, so I guess the categorisation of pharmacists as “workers
of a supervisory or clerical nature” (PJ, 19 February, p207) is
a sign of improvement linked to all the continuing professional development
we are now doing.
We know the onerous responsibilities we carry but does anyone else? Queuing
for even short periods to hand in a prescription seems to produce signs
of agitation and displeasure in some who are perfectly able to control
such feelings when queuing in a bank. If they then have to wait for the
item to be labelled, dispensed and checked they are flabbergasted, and
the cry “it’s only a few boxes” is issued. These people
do not have a clue. If the “wrong box” goes out they could
be admitted to hospital or worse. Do they realise that we are legally
responsible for checking the safety of the prescription as written by
the GP? Of course not. In both cases realisation of pharmacists as more
than box pickers and packers comes when recompense is sought through
litigation.
When visiting a doctor or nurse people seem to display an understanding
that they are one of many that need to be seen and processed, and that
this takes time if it is to be done accurately and safely. Yet those
who will mutely sit at the surgery while the nurse’s clinic runs
30 minutes late show an abject lack of patience with the pharmacist,
who is pulled in so many directions. Add to this the stress of sometimes
not working with a full complement of staff and one begins to wonder
what it is all about.
CPD is great as a means of personal development but all the CPD in the
world will not change the public perception of pharmacists as clerics
or supervisors, nor will it change the harsh realities of working life
that many of us are forced to deal with.
Sittal Patel
London SE19
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal