Changing relationship between pharmacists and physicians

Abstract

The changing professional relationship between pharmacists and physicians in the United States from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present is described. Throughout the nineteenth century, physicians intruded heavily on the pharmacist's domain, and medicine often viewed pharmacy with condescension. Toward the century's end, pharmacists gained more respect and recognition as the medical and pharmaceutical sciences grew and physicians found themselves relying on pharmacists. Hundreds of years of friction were not easily forgotten, though, and the two professions continued to hurl charges and countercharges and vie for power. With the emergence of the pharmacist as a full member of the health-care team and the crush of medical information in the twentieth century, greater cooperation is occurring, although irritations persist, especially in the areas of physician dispensing and therapeutic interchange. Improvements in the relationship between pharmacists and physicians were driven by growth in their fields and the trend toward specialization. As tensions ease, patient care should benefit.