Viewpoints

Pharmacists cannot solve the drug abuse problem, but they can refrain from abetting drug-seekers - and give chronic-pain patients the support they deserve.

Are you pharmacy?

How much do you identify with your work? Does your role as a pharmacist determine your sense of self? Be careful what you tell yourself. Maybe think again.

Your district manager is bashing you with metrics at the expense of your patients and pharmacy practice. You're in professional hell. It may be time to activate plan B.

An 89-year-old woman walked 3,200 miles in 14 months for a cause she believed in - and then got herself hauled off to jail for reading the Declaration of Independence in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. If she could show up for her cause, suggests Kim Ankenbruck, RPh, what are we willing to do for ours?

The shell game

Now you see it, now you don't . . . the big pharmacy school con

An accurate medication history for hospital patients is the product of teamwork shared by pharmacists, physicians, and nurses. The pharmacist must champion this process for it to work smoothly.

As pharmacists switch from reimbursement based on a fee-for-service model to value-based care, these best practices can help maximize efficiency despite budget constraints and lean staffs.

Overweight diabetes patients often look for answers in their drugstores' weight-loss aisles, where so-called natural products are available OTC. Not all these products are safe, and many patients don't realize it.

Drug-disposal options in the United States are still evolving, and patients often do not know proper procedures. As the most accessible of healthcare professionals, pharmacists have a responsibility to promote best practices.

Pharmacists speak out

The AMA raised a ruckus over "drug store intrusion into medical practice." Turns out, lots of folks may have missed the point.

While FDA has done little to combat tobacco use, manufacturers are targeting young African Americans with saturation advertising, using menthol cigarettes as bait.

Pharmacist on the spot

When frightened girls come back from emergency trips to Mexico and ask you how to use an off-label drug as an "abortion pill," what are you going to tell them?