Student: Pharmacists Working to Show Health Care Value

Fiona Zhou, PharmD candidate at University of the Sciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, shares her thoughts on the value of pharmacy and the role of pharmacists in health care.

Fiona Zhou: I think the value isn’t as high as it should be right now. I feel like pharmacists aren’t able to really do their job as well right now because there are supplies that pharmacists have to give to the doctors that they need. They also, don’t really much have a say—regardless of certain guidelines. They can’t prescribe the medication that will help a patient.

I think that value is not as high as it should be, but I still think that we’re working to gain more, to be more in the loop, to try to find certain drugs that help, and to report back to the CDC and say, ‘hey this is working in our hospital,’ and just help in that aspect.