Community Pharmacists Build Trust and Improve Patient Health

In an era when accessing a physician often means waiting days or weeks for an appointment—even for telemedicine—pharmacists are stepping forward as the most immediately reachable health care professionals in the community, said Parthiv Shah, BSPharm, president of the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York (PSSNY), in a recent discussion on the evolving role of pharmacy.

“Pharmacists are accessible,” Shah said, contrasting that with the experience many patients face in primary care. “Many physicians, most physicians, you have to make an appointment,” he noted, adding that for concerns that can’t wait—such as a new rash or a spike in home blood pressure readings—“your local pharmacist [is] right here in town; you can walk all over, come on over, and talk to them and explain [it] to them.”

Shah framed the pharmacist’s role as going far beyond dispensing medications. At the core is trust-building through personal, consistent engagement. It is, he argued, a grassroots process.

“[It’s] extremely important to build that trust in the community, especially every patient. You start with one patient, then you grab the family, and then slowly you grab…the communities,” he said.

Community pharmacists are not just health care providers but local leaders. “I believe as pharmacists, we're really like managing a tribe of people in our local areas,” Shah said. That means taking the time to ask about more than prescriptions. He described simple but powerful questions as part of everyday practice: “You always ask, ‘how's your family? How's your parents? How's your children? How are you doing as a person?’”

That personal touch naturally extends into clinical conversations about adherence and preventive care. “Is there anything else that you have questions regarding your medication? Are you up to date with your vaccination? Is your… loved ones okay with their vaccination?” he said, emphasizing how a few extra seconds of conversation can uncover hidden concerns about children, older relatives, or conditions patients never had time to raise with their physicians.

Medication adherence remains one of the central challenges in chronic disease management, and Shah is candid that nonadherence affects everyone. “Our patients are delinquent to taking medications, and then, including… health care providers [are] also delinquent. It happens,” he admitted. “Myself, I forget to take my cholesterol medicine here and there. But listen, it's about education.”

For Shah, that education is grounded in clear, direct explanations. “This is why it's extremely important to take your blood pressure medicine. You don't want to get a stroke. This is very important to take your diabetes medicine.”

New pharmacy services, he added, can make adherence more manageable. “Many pharmacies are doing long-term care packaging…makes it super easy. You open it up, there's 6 medicines right in those little pouches…” Paired with synchronization approaches, he said, “We can decrease people forgetting to take their medication.”

Shah also urged pharmacists to meet patients where they are—online and in civic spaces—especially at a time of heightened skepticism around misinformation and disinformation. “Get on social media, get on the local board, local chambers of commerce, talk to the mayor, get the mayor to come in, create those trusts, those relationships,” he said.

That kind of visibility, he argued, is essential during high-risk periods like flu season and pandemics.

“This is really where you're going to help your community be better, be healthier during the…flu seasons. You saw that during COVID, pharmacies were doing testing and treating,” Shah said. “[There’s] no myth, no type of reason why you shouldn't come to see your pharmacist and having the pharmacist being in the leadership positions.”