Sometimes Pharmacists Need Medicine, Too
How many times have you heard, “Pharmacists are the worst patients.” We KNOW what to do; we know WHAT will help, we COUNSEL our patients to ask for help, but we don’t always take our own advice.
How come?
Sometimes pharmacists need medicine, too. For hypertension, for GERD, and yes, for mental health. Pharmacists are human and we are not immune to anxiety or depression, yet we’re sometimes hesitant to talk about it.
How come?
In this Op-Ed written by a physician, the author describes what is really happening (it’s about physician-patients, but we can extrapolate):
“Physician-patients also ask tough questions. Given our background in medicine, we have enough knowledge to be critical of any information handed to us, and to ask about alternatives. This is a positive element to being a medical professional, but there is a dark side, which shows when we begin to try to dictate our own care. We believe we’ve read enough, understand enough, have seen enough, to know what should be done. Yet we forget that the person in front of us, evaluating us, is the most educated person in the room on the topic — not us.”
It's Mental Health Awareness Month, so let’s start there: Awareness. Is it time to ask someone for help? Is it time to reach out to someone – “not us” as the author states – for advice? Is it time to accept that sometimes pharmacists need medicine, too?
We’re in this together. And sometimes that means taking medicine. But it probably starts by taking our own advice.
Until next week,
Brooke
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