Top researcher calls for independent prescribing and pharmacist recognition as medical professionals, telling doctors to ‘get over it’ Pharmacists are medical professionals, just as doctors are, Professor Ross Tsuyuki told delegates at the Pharmacy Connect conference held by the Pharmacy Guild last week. Professor Tsuyuki, who chairs the Department of Pharmacology within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta, Canada, and works within a heart failure clinic as an independent practitioner, told delegates that he is unhappy with the way pharmacists are described by those outside the profession. “The problem is there is a lack of understanding and a lack of respect for what we [pharmacists] do,” he said. “We’re treated like a retailer or a shopkeeper or a small business owner. I’m not against business, but I don’t like being treated like I own a corner store either. “As a result, whenever there is a discussion […]