HealthSource Distributors on Empathy

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes — Tips for Pharmacies.

A pharmacist who cares

How can you show patients that you really care about their whole health? Alan Polnariev, PharmD, MS, in the Pharmacy Times, mentions a few ways to do this, that this article will expand on.

1. Spend a little more time talking to them. Get to know a bit about them. Don’t simply dispense a drug. It might save pharmacies time, but it’s not a good pharma system.
2. Get to know some details about your customers. A good example of this is to remember how to say their last name properly!
3. Make some more eye contact. The non-verbal attention can be very powerful.

Jodi Halpern MD, PHD in an article titled “What is Clinical Empathy”, writes “When doctors attune to patients nonverbally, patients feel more comfortable and give fuller histories."

Being a member of the pharma community is not only about the business of distributing pharmaceuticals. It’s a call of duty. To be a source of health and wellness and to treat the whole patient.