Take it From a Local

I’ve sat in meetings with pharmaceutical company representatives, researchers and health care professionals as they discuss how they’ve read, attended training, or conducted research and know what is best for their patients. Yet they struggle to get patients to trust their judgement and follow their advice.

As a pharmacist, I know how they feel. I was trained to specialize in medication knowledge, but I don’t prescribe — I advise. To effect change, I must convince someone else to make the decision. But how? As a health care professionals’ colleague, I hear the frustrations being unable to help those they’ve sworn to serve.

On the other hand, those they serve are my family and my community, whom I listen to express their distrust for decisions made for them by health care professionals. I’m a first-generation college student from the Texas Panhandle working on my second doctorate –this one in translational science. I left the region for part of my education and then returned to start a family and serve the community I grew up in.

I am the bridge between two worlds. I’ve listened to each group, laypeople and health care professionals, confidentially discuss their fears and frustrations without the filters they use when talking to one another. And, belonging to both groups, I can empathize with them both.

The best way forward is through understanding each other. Be a part of the community you serve. Take the time to listen to opinions different from your own and be curious and respectful about the differences. The future of health care is together.