Celebrate American Pharmacist Month

Karen Merrill, senior director of Pharmacy Solutions at McKesson, details her professional experience in pharmacy, with over 50 years in the industry. Merrill shares her personal journey, starting from her family's involvement in community pharmacy, and highlights the significant changes she has witnessed, particularly the advancements in technology and the expanded scope of practice for pharmacists. She emphasizes the crucial role of pharmacists as accessible and trusted health care providers, capable of delivering comprehensive patient-centric care and positively impacting healthcare outcomes.

Image Credit: Zoran Zeremski - stock.adobe.com

Q: Can you start by introducing yourself?

Karen Merrill: My name is Karen Merrill. I am Senior Director of Pharmacy Solutions for Mckesson Health Mart. I have been a pharmacist for 35+ years, but yet I've been in this industry for over 50. I am deeply involved in community pharmacy. I have experience with managed care, third party, regulatory compliance, and mostly pharmacy operations.

Q: How did you get started with pharmacy?

Karen Merrill: Well, my journey into pharmacy, like I said, is a 50+ year career. Pharmacy has been very important to my family all my life. My father was a pharmacist and my mother was a nurse, so in the early 1970s, and I'm dating myself, my family bought a pharmacy, so I literally grew up in that environment. If I wasn't in school or sports practice or Girl Scouts, I was at the pharmacy. So I learned at an early age the impact that a pharmacist can have on their community. I loved watching my dad and my mom work with their patients and their community members and saw the impact. I knew from watching my dad that this is really what I wanted to do, and I wanted to focus more on the business aspects of things, not so much, just as a pharmacist. I saw all the hats that an independent pharmacist wore and all the jobs that had to be done, and I just knew in my heart that that's what I wanted to do.

Q: How have you seen the profession change over your career?

Karen Merrill: Wow, lots of changes going back when I first started. I mean, think about the technology. I typed prescriptions on a typewriter, and I know I'm aging myself there, but I think there's 2 really big areas where we've seen the change, the expanded role of the pharmacist, our expanded scope of practice, and then the technology. I am so excited to see that pharmacists can do more, that we are actually poised to be that primary care provider in the community. We can do so much more than just dispense. So I think that's the biggest change. We've been talking about it for 30 years, and I think we're really close to the having that pharmacist be that pivotal access point in the community. Pharmacists are the most accessible and the most trusted professional, and then the second point is the technology. I mean, really thinking about telehealth, telepharmacy, AI, cell phones, typewriters, and computers, I mean, but think of the advancements. Not only can we fill prescriptions, safer, faster, more automated, we really have access to electronic health records, things that we didn't have 15 to 20, years ago, that will make our job so much easier as that accessible health point.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of pharmacy for you?

Karen Merrill: Oh, for me, it's always been about the patient. You can make a difference in just the smallest ways, whether it's breaking down a barrier, some sort of social determinant of health, helping access it's really all about the patient and seeing that outcome, that health outcome, for the patient, improve, really, for me, was the most rewarding now that I'm not dispensing, and I'm more of a creator of solutions, driver of solutions, mentor, getting to give back to the community. I have a niece who is a new pharmacist, so I look forward to mentoring her, and for me, watching the next generation take on the role and really make a difference as that point of care in the community.

Q: What is the value of the pharmacist to you personally and to the overall health care system?

Karen Merrill: Well, definitely having the pharmacist be in the community is the value. I mean, we, as I mentioned before, the most accessible, the most trusted, they're really the first point-of-care, and by having a pharmacist intervene on point of care, testing, med[ication] management, all the different things that a pharmacist can do, we're we're lowering overall health care costs. We're reducing readmissions into the hospital. The pharmacist needs to be that pivotal point in the health care system.

Q: With the role of the pharmacists growing, what is the importance of pharmacists for patients and the community?

Karen Merrill: Pharmacists are essential in bridging that gap between patients and the health care system. We think about how complex everything is now the pharmacist expertise in medication management, patient education, and preventative care plays just a crucial role in enhancing the patient outcome. As health care landscape continues to change, I think pharmacists are going to become even more important.

Q: How are you celebrating this American Pharmacists Month this year?

Karen Merrill: Well, I'm excited this year because I actually am going to a conference where I'll be with some of my peers, live and in person, and then my niece is a first-year pharmacist. She just graduated, and we're going to celebrate her first month as an actual registered pharmacist, doctor of pharmacy, for her. So pretty excited for that.

Q: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Karen Merrill: I think I just want to end on how optimistic I am for the profession of pharmacy. While we have our challenges and it is complex, I think there's really a lot to look forward to. Pharmacists are now providing more care than ever through ongoing advocacy efforts. We're really close to be recognized as providers by Medicare, which will even expand further the services that we can provide. So with this expanded scope for both pharmacists and technicians, the community pharmacy is perfectly poised to be that patient hub in their community. So I'm really optimistic for that.