I sometimes wonder. There is RateMD. There is Ratemyprofessor. And there is Ratemyteacher. There are reviews of other service providers. How come there is no such thing as ratemypharmacist.com?

I wonder because there are times where I have interacted with a wonderful pharmacist colleague. I wish I could write a wonderful review to acknowledge the great work of this pharmacist. There are also times where I have been disappointed with the professional behaviour of a pharmacist and wish there is a system to warn others or the public.

The public can always submit a complaint to the College of Pharmacists of Ontario. But these are often reserved for serious offences or blatant violations of the scope of practice or regulations governing our profession.

But the day-to-day appreciation of the exceptional pharmacist services have nowhere to go. Some corporate pharmacies have implemented “Pharmacist of the Month” to show appreciation for stellar performance of individual pharmacists. But what if you are an independent pharmacy owner, often going over and beyond to help your patients? You know who you are … and it seems biased to say you are the pharmacist of the month all year round (even if it is true)!

But if the review comes from patients or other health care providers, it means something more.

In every profession, there will always be good and bad apples. But in some ways, these reviews or these rating sites force individuals to be accountable to their services, quality and professionalism.

Mind you, I am aware that these rating sites are not perfect. There may be disgruntled employees or customers who may submit anonymous comments to sabotage your reputation. There may also be disagreement between the pharmacist and patient’s understanding of what is best care, reasonable expectations and standard level of customer service.

But this may also be an added way to acknowledge the great work of these pharmacists, great work that their corporate head offices may not necessarily appreciate but great work that is meaningful to patients and customers.

No… a ratemypharmacist.com website will not increase our salary, reduce our workload or manage our burnout. But it will validate that our work does not go unnoticed and I think that is an important reason for our profession.

So should we or should we not be open to scrutiny by the public?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your thoughts.