Pharmacists Rank High In Honesty and Ethics
The American people trust pharmacists. That’s the conclusion of a USA TODAY/Gallup poll that found 73 percent of those surveyed rank druggists/pharmacists “very high” or “high” in terms of honesty and ethics.
The top three ranked professions in the latest poll were nurses, druggists/pharmacists, and veterinarians. Pharmacists have been in one of the top three spots since 1989. Each year, Gallup measures honesty and ethics for 14 newsworthy occupations. Additional occupations are included on a rotating basis. The percentage of people who ranked pharmacists highly has increased since 1999.
The poll suggests that pharmacists have been so highly ranked this year, in particular, for playing a pivotal role helping seniors navigate the new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. However, despite the public’s high regard for pharmacists, low and slow payments to pharmacies from prescription drug plans managed by giant pharmacy benefit managers threaten the ability of family-owned pharmacies to continue offering their services to patients.
The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) says that the pharmacist brings great value to the health care delivery system. It looks like the American people agree as well.
The bottom three occupations in 2006 were car salespeople, advertising practitioners, and HMO managers.
The NCPA, founded in 1898, represents the nation’s community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 24,000 pharmacies. The nation’s independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation’s retail prescription medicines.
