Drugs or lifestyle changes? Are pharmacists pill-happy?
From the article:
It is my impression that many pharmacists are not particularly interested in the prevention of disease, preferring pharmacological solutions to lifestyle changes. For example, in my experience, many pharmacists seem to be far more interested in learning about the (often theoretical) mode of action of a new drug than they are in learning about the enormous potential of disease prevention.
Pharmacists have been taught to view disease in mechanistic and reductionistic terms involving the manipulation of molecules and cells with powerful pharmaceuticals that overwhelm the delicate processes of nature. These are biological processes that Mother Nature has had well in hand for hundreds of thousands of years.
Filed under: General Problems
That is such a good article and what he talks about is something that I have thought about for years. A large percentage of patients I see in the pharmacy have health problems because of their lifestyles. It would seem that that the logical course of treatment would be to try and get them to alter their lifestyle. The drugs only keep them alive and functional but does not address the root cause of their ailments. A patient goes to the doc and his blood glucose level is high. The doc gives him a prescription for Metformin. This is the easy approach. The doc will probably mention diet and exercise. This is really about all the doc can do. The underlying cause of the patients problem is his lifestyle. Until our healthcare system can reach people in away that nudges them into changing their lifestyle, we are going to be bombarded with a costly and overloaded healthcare system.
It’s not surprising. It’s similar but not exactly like asking a shoe cobbler to not be interested as much in repair but to pay more attention to telling people to have better posture to avoid needing specialized shoes.
But it’s worth thinking about for sure