A survey for pharmacists

1. Are Americans overmedicated?
2. Do you agree with the statement that the fewer drugs people take, the better?
3. Do you feel that the increase in average life span in the last hundred years is primarily due to modern medicine? Or do you feel it is primarily due to public health factors like better nutrition, better sanitation, better protection from the elements (better housing), etc.?
4. Do you feel that health is directly proportional to the per capita consumption of pharmaceuticals?
5. Do you feel that your customers would need fewer pills if they lose weight, eat more nutritious foods, avoid a sedentary existence, avoid prolonged periods in front of a TV or computer, etc.?
6. Do you feel that pharmacists take more—or fewer—pills than their average customer?
7. Is our health care system excessively focused on pills rather than on prevention?
8. Do you agree with the statement that most people can do more for their own health than doctors?
9. Which classes of drugs do you feel are the most essential?  And which classes of drugs do you feel are the least essential and most overprescribed?
10. Do you believe the chemical imbalance theory of depression?  Or do you feel that depression is primarily caused by one’s life circumstances?  Do you agree with the statement that these people have some problem in their lives that a pill won’t solve?
11. Does the huge number of Americans who take antidepressants say anything about our culture and society?  Or is depression a purely biological malfunction?
12. Do you feel that most cancers are preventable?  Or do you feel that cancer is inevitable as we grow older?
13. Do you agree with the statement that drugs are double-edged swords, with significant risks and benefits?
14. Do you feel that the FDA is doing an adequate job in screening drugs before they’re approved?
15. Do you feel that pharmaceutical industry lobbying of Congress pressures the FDA to approve drugs that should not be approved? 
16. Does pressure from the pharmaceutical industry make it too difficult for the FDA to remove unsafe drugs from the market?
17. Which classes of drugs do you feel are the most overprescribed?
18. Is estrogen over-prescribed for post-menopausal women?
19. Do you feel our health care system is focused too heavily on pills rather than prevention?
20. Are you disturbed by the number of kids in America who take drugs like Ritalin?
21. Are you disturbed by the number of your customers who are hooked on pain pills like hydrocodone or on anti-anxiety drugs like lorazepam (Ativan) or alprozolam (Xanax)?
22. Are Americans overmedicated for mild hypertension?  Should the focus be on prevention (losing weight, better nutrition, exercise, etc.) rather than pills?
23. Have you ever told an obese customer that the best thing he or she can do for his or her health is to lose weight?
24. If the store in which you work sells tobacco products, have you ever told customers buying cigarettes that they are endangering their health?
25. Do you feel that pharmacy schools focus too heavily on drugs and give short shrift to prevention?
26. Do you feel that pharmacy schools focus too heavily on chemistry?  How often do you use your knowledge of drug structural formulas when you fill prescriptions?  When is the last time you used your knowledge of chemistry to answer a question from a doctor or customer?  When is the last time you used your knowledge of chemistry in filling a prescription?  Do you know which drugs can cause a sulfa allergic reaction because your memory of a sulfur atom in their structural formula?  Or do you know which drugs can cause a sulfa allergy because your computer flags the drug?
27. Are you disgusted with the American Pharmacists Association and state boards of pharmacy for doing almost nothing to address pharmacists’ working conditions?
28. What were the most valuable courses for you in pharmacy school?  What were the least valuable?
29. Would you recommend pharmacy as a career for your children?
30. Should boards of pharmacy mandate safe staffing levels in drugstores?
31. Are state boards of pharmacy intimidated by the immense political and legal clout of the big chains?
32. How significant is the problem of pharmacy mistakes?  Do you know pharmacists who are an accident waiting to happen?
33. Do doctors welcome your calls when you phone their offices about potential drug interactions, questionable dosages, or illegible prescriptions?
34. Do you feel that there are a lot of nurses and receptionists who are inadequately knowledgeable about drug names yet routinely phone prescriptions to the drugstore?  Do you find that they often say things like “This one looks like…” or “I’ll have to spell this one for you…” or “You’ll need to help me with this one.”
35. Do you feel that statins are overprescribed?  Do you feel that more people suffer muscle problems from statins than their doctors recognize?
36. Are most chronic diseases inevitable because of genetics and aging?  Or are diseases like elevated blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and elevated blood sugar (in type 2 diabetes) primarily related to lifestyle and nutritional factors?
37. How often do your customers claim that a generic drug is less effective than the brand name?  Which generic drugs do customers complain about the most?  Do you feel that the FDA adequately monitors generic manufacturers in this country and around the world?  Do you feel that the complex design of long-acting drugs makes their release of active ingredient in generic versions more erratic?
38. Which classes of drugs are most overprescribed in America (antibiotics, pain pills, anti-anxiety drugs, female hormones, statins, acid suppressors)?
39. How often do you phone doctors’ offices about illegible handwriting, potential drug interactions, or questionable doses?  Do doctors appreciate your calls or do they interpret your calls as questioning their competence?
40. Do drug advertisements on television serve a useful purpose in educating the public about medical conditions?  Or do these advertisements prompt people to ask doctors for oftentimes unnecessary drugs?  Do doctors feel pressured to prescribe drugs requested by customers who saw the drug advertised on television?
41. Do you feel that drug salesmen and saleswomen give doctors unbiased information about drugs?
42. Would you have become a pharmacist if you knew then what you know now?
43. Do you feel that schools of pharmacy promote a sugar-coated view of pharmacy that is widely at odds with real world working conditions?
44. Do you feel that the chains have utter disdain for pharmacists with a doctorate (Pharm.D.) degree? 
45. Is obesity the result of a physiological malfunction, or is it the result of an inability to walk away from the kitchen table?