Nancy W. Dickey, the association's president-elect, bridled at the Buffalo institution's explanation that recipients of a Pharm. Dr. Dickey said that while she applauded the extra education for pharmacists, she was concerned that some pharmacists with a doctoral degree might be tempted to overstep the bounds of their authority. The fact is, we want to be partners. We don't want to fight battles over turf. Medications are getting more complex, there's more chronic disease and an increase in the geriatric population who are large medication users.
Pharmacists can very substantially improve that situation.
Geraldine Bednash, the executive director of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, said she sides with the pharmacists. Any time you can bring in people with additional skills for the delivery of health care you improve it. In the past, the AMA has opposed legislation that would allow pharmacists to give patients medications other than those prescribed by their doctors, and Dr. Dickey left little doubt that the association would continue to do so. Critics of doctoral programs for pharmacists include some drugstore owners and managers who employ pharmacists. Kurt Proctor, a spokesman for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, said his members feared that the new programs would add to the cost of education and thus might discourage some students from entering the profession, causing a decreased enrollment in pharmacy colleges when there is a substantial increase in the dispensing of drugs.