Jim Plagakis, RPh, Contributing Editor

Overweight and obese people constitute a majority in the United States. Universal access to healthcare will mean fat people, too. Thousands of obese people, uninsurable today, will get full coverage, and expensive prescriptions for obesity-related illnesses will clog the tube.

One man's fantasy of the ultimate pharmacy leads him down memory lane.

Unkempt appearance is often the pharmacist's first clue that a drug-chaser has entered the store.

The one condition that is probably shared by most pharmacists can harm marriages, health, and jobs. But it comes with the job, so what do we do about that?

Before the concept of "networking" became necessary, professional colleagues were often friends as well as peers, gathering regularly to compare notes, have fun, and support each other through difficult times. The loss of that connection has impoverished today's practice of pharmacy.

As many a pharmacist can testify, sometimes a momentary encounter makes an impression that will last a lifetime.

A pharmacist has a musical flashback.

A young pharmacist gets a lesson in caring that lasts a lifetime.

Do French pharmacists work as many long hours as Amercian pharmacists? Maybe not, but maybe they have the right idea.

It seems to me that doctors are pretty much taking off the better-than-you crowns and the are-you-looking-at-me cloaks these days. They seem to be much more egalitarian than ever before. They often appear to be more democratic than they were just 10 years ago. I can even call them by their first names without getting attitude. When I question them on restricted refills on something like Freestyle strips, they are likely to back off and change to p.r.n. Doctors are getting human on us.

We're at the bottom of the healthcare funnel, whether we like it or not. Being at the front line, we see many patients who have been marginalized by our society, our culture, and our medical system. They're simply not equipped to navigate through the complexities of the healthcare scheme.

Recently, a certified pharmacy technician expressed her frustration when she and her pharmacist were blamed for unprofessional conduct in their telephone transaction with a doctor. The prescriber claimed to be too important to waste her time digging up numbers that the pharmacist needed to fill her patient's prescription. The doctor immodestly identified herself as a well-known and celebrated practitioner. This, apparently, was a good enough reason to refuse the request for her DEA number.

There will be no doctor to hide behind. You are going to be, in effect, the prescriber. You are going to be the one to question the woman about when the event took place. It could be a mother or sister, maybe the father of a girl under 18. You are the one who will counsel about the correct usage.