The Evolution Of Pharmacists

It seems to me that I've become a dinosaur in the profession.

Pharmacists seemed to be a little tougher when I first started in the profession. Back then, we carried some authority, had individual control of our work environment, and we didn't take a lot of lip or put up with a lot of bullshit. As such, we garnered a lot of respect from our employers and our patients.

But, things seemed to change quickly over the past two decades.

It seems to me that we've become spineless wage slaves, bending like reeds at which ever way the wind blows. Everybody else tells us what we need to do, and we constantly get it from both ends. As such, the attitude of many pharmacists seems to have become - "I don't care, as long as they pay me well, they can do whatever they want". And it often shows in the workplace.

I'm sure that this attitude likely has something to do with the chain pharmacies taking over, the loss of our professional independence, and the insurance industry dictating payment. Many pharmacists (including me) have resigned ourselves to not being in control of our professional destiny anymore.

However, it also seems to me that the personalities of individual pharmacists have changed over the years too. I don't know if it's because of recent dominance of females in the profession, something about the selection process in the colleges of pharmacy, or even just something about society as a whole, but it seems to me that many newer male pharmacists are more metrosexual than when I first started working in pharmacy. And it often shows in the workplace too.

But, don't just take my word for it. Here's a group of recent pharmacy graduates from NJ, discussing how they took off like a flock of seagulls when their pharmacy was robbed by two female robbers.