Pharmacists Get High Marks for Trustworthiness

Everyone wants to be trusted, especially in a medical profession, right?  A new Gallup poll shows that pharmacists have once again been named among the most honest and ethical career professionals in the United States. In 2016’s annual poll, pharmacists were given a “high” or “very high” rating by 67% of the poll’s respondents and a “low” or “very low” rating by only 8%.

It’s par for the course, though: pharmacists have ranked near the top of the Gallup poll for years. Their highest score was 75% in 2012, and you’d have to travel all the way back to 1981 to find a score under 60% (and even then, it was 59%).

Healthcare professionals in general fared well in the poll, holding six out of the top 10 places in the poll. Nurses held first place for the 15th year in a row with a commanding score of 84%. The rest of the top 10, in order, were: pharmacists, medical doctors, engineers, dentists, police officers, college teachers, clergy, chiropractors, and psychiatrists.

“We commend community pharmacists across the country on their impressive showing in the latest Gallup survey of Americans’ views of honesty and ethical standards. People continue to hold pharmacists in very high regard,” B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association, said in a press release. “It is time for payers and policymakers to better utilize the accessibility, expertise and public trust in pharmacists.”

The survey was conducted via randomly-dialed landline and cell phone interviews from December 7-11, 2016, in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

The bottom three scorers in the poll were insurance salespeople, car salespeople, and bringing up the rear with an 8% rating, members of Congress.