The day-to-day routine of pharmacy work has the tendency to make you forget the power that comes with your position as a pharmacist. Even charge pharmacists often concentrate so much on managing the prescription flow, patient queries, consultations etc, that they think about their position in terms of responsibilities rather than powers.

Of course, you may object, we are constantly reminded of our responsibilities, the things we have to do and how we have to do them. Where is the power in that?

With great power comes great responsibility

Stan Lee

Everybody heard of the Peter Parker Principle that goes “With great power comes great responsibility”. Now let’s not forget that this principle is just as true the other way around. If you are responsible for a particular task, if you are the one that must face the consequences in case something goes sideways, then you must also have the power over that task to make sure you can indeed take responsibility for it.

Note that I said “must” have the power. It is not always obvious that you do, but if you think about it, how could it be otherwise? It would be foolish to accept responsibility for something you cannot control.

These are difficult times for pharmacy. Owners feel the crunch more than ever before. Large corporates have arrived to the market and they are here to stay. Employees and locum pharmacists also feel the crunch, but in different ways. Employment opportunities are not too bad with the expansion of some of the corporates for now. But…

The fact that we see relatively little in the way of questionable, unethical or irresponsible behaviour in pharmacy, shouldn’t lull you to sleep, thinking this is how this is always going to be, so why worry. Despite some concerns raised on social media about some of the market actors, there is nothing anyone can hang their hat on for now. But this is no reason to be complacent.

We must remain true to our calling, keep the highest ethical and professional standards. Every individual pharmacist is responsible for maintaining the required standards, therefore, has the power of control.

You have discretionary powers in your pharmacy over deciding whether to dispense a particular prescription or not, whether to sell a particular product (in general or to a particular person) or not, whether to advertise or allow the advertisement of a particular product or not, whether to display a particular product or not, whether to let someone into your dispensary or not. And the list goes on.

You have powers, use them! Use them so that you can take responsibility for your tasks, and sleep well at night. Don’t let anyone tell you willy-nilly what you can or cannot do. Don’t forget, it’s your backside on the line, not theirs.

Of course, in a team environment others will be affected by your actions as well. Your employer may also bear responsibility for many of the things you do, so they may very well have a say in how you should do your work. Also, there is always more than one way to do things right, and this is not a call for argument over personal preferences.

To sum up, remember to use your powers that come with your responsibilities, be sensible about it, but don’t let yourself be lead down the wrong path.