Two things that caught my attention at work this week:
1. Gender and white coats:
- if you are male and wear a white coat you are a doctor
- if you are female and wear a white coat you are a nurse
I kid you not (this happens quite frequently). Right at the beginning of any 'patient interaction' I'm careful to explain that I'm a pharmacist who works in the hospital. I re-iterate this at the end, in case they have questions they think of later.
So, one particular interaction this week: I spend five or so minutes talking with a family about a patient's allergies and medications at home and changes in hospital etc. Twenty seconds after leaving the room, and still within earshot, a nurse enters the room to talk with the patient and family. What do I overhear? "I was just telling the nurse that was here...."
Please believe me when I say this is not a rare occurrence.
2. Pharmacists have an inherent belief that medications work
I think you'll understand at the end of this analogy.
Say I was going to buy a really, really expensive car. Nothing practical at all. Something simply for the looks and status symbol. So I make my way down to the dealership. I see the car of my dreams sitting off to the side. The dealer approaches, noticing that I have my eye on the car. He starts by saying, "Excellent choice. This car is simply fantastic. It is absolutely everything that you want ... the power, the bling, the sex appeal."
But what he says next catches me off guard. "But you'll have to be careful. Definitely get winter tires -- you can't be too careful with that much power on icy roads. And of course, you'll want to avoid gravel roads. Even a small paint chip can be extremely expensive to repair. Well, you should probably get the oil changed every 1000 km or so -- you wouldn't want to put the engine under too much stress. And don't leave it out in the sun or the rain or under tress or in a public parking garage. The interior is wonderful ... so no eating or taking your cup of coffee along to work in the morning. But you are unequivocally going to love this car."
Nonetheless, you see how this is all going. And as pharmacists, we come to the table knowing that these medications we hand to you are going to work. And perhaps too frequently, we don't work as hard as we should be trying to get you to buy in. At the same time, because we know they work, we want to be diligent in telling you the risks. We are not trying to scare you off -- but I think many times we do. In the world of risk-benefit analysis, you hear a lot about risk and maybe, just maybe, not enough about benefit.