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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear one of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy members speak about “how to be passionate about our profession”. Mr. Joel Thornbury brought up some important points that made me reflect on the future of pharmacy practice. He highlighted a few critical issues surrounding our profession that quite frankly, concerned me.

Here is how Mr. Thornbury began his speech: “the profession of pharmacy is in trouble.” As many of us are aware, the number of students who graduate from pharmacy school every year outweighs the number of jobs available. However, this isn’t a simple supply and demand issue. As Mr. Thornbury pointed out, some hospitals are seeking to reduce the number of positions for pharmacists. We are one of the better-compensated health care professionals but one of the very few who have yet to achieve provider status.

Pharmacists need to move away from their dispensing role. Other health care professionals need us on the health care team to optimize patient outcomes. They do not need us for our distributive role but for the clinical judgments we can make and the clinical preventative services we can offer. However, in order to establish our role as an indispensable part of the team, we must be politically active. We must come together as a group to promote what we can offer and prove that we can help significantly improve patient outcomes.

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in ASHP’s legislative day with the Kentucky delegation. I was able to meet with congressional staff to speak about the education that we receive as students and how it qualifies us to offer a broader range of clinical services upon graduation. This experience was an incredible eye-opener. It made me realize part of what we can do as students to help expand the role of pharmacists and have the services we provide recognized under Medicare Part B. The profession needs us to be politically active both throughout pharmacy school and beyond graduation. I highly encourage all students to support political efforts and help advance the practice of pharmacy.