On December 4th 2025, I completed an online course for Pharmacy technician training. After two years of working as a pharmacy clerk, I found my calling in the medical field. As a child I had a career goal of becoming a pharmacist. Then I grew up and the experiences I had led me to a path of globe trotting. After several years of globe trotting, the COVID-19 pandemic canceled my travel opportunities. I decided from there that I would revisit my initial childhood path of working in pharmacy. Upon being the front-face of a rural clinic’s pharmacy, I realized something crucial; All of my social science education prepared me for the diversity of human experiences I would encounter.
Why it matters
My first week as a pharmacy clerk, I wore an orange blouse with daisies on it. An elderly patient came in and I watched her eyes light up. She mentioned how back in her youth she wore blouses just like mine in the mid 1970’s. We talked about the cultural touchstones of the era; the fashion, the music, the ways of life. When she picked up her prescriptions the following month, I found that she built rapport with our pharmacy. That somehow, I ‘understood’ her in a way that contrasts what’s otherwise a circumstance of being a number in a computer. That healthcare can be more than just filling a prescription, but seeing a person behind it.
Social science teaches you to ask “why” about human behavior. When we understand the ‘why’ in human behavior, it allows healthcare professionals to meet patients where they are. That interaction builds rapport. Rapport provides increased patient compliance and positive health outcomes.
What Social Science Actually Teaches
For anyone new here: I double majored in International Relations and Political Science for my undergrad. On the surface, these look like they’re not related to healthcare. In reality, all of this coursework prepared me exactly for the field.
International Relations is a major that covers the full scope of power dynamics, how systems impact individuals, and cultural context.
In the medical field, you will encounter a plethora of insurance barriers and medication backorders. It’s easy to get caught in the crossfire of patient backlash when their anxiety rightfully targets these barriers and you’re the front face of the system for them. But when you understand how the system works, it prepares you with the context to help them navigate it or provide alternative access to receiving appropriate care. I had a patient whose insurance wouldn’t cover a medication. Instead of saying ‘sorry, that’s our policy,’ I understood the system. I knew about patient assistance programs, I gave advice on the questions to ask their insurance company about further options that would comply with insurance formularies. Ultimately, I knew how to advocate within the system rather than just enforce it.
Power dynamics are another thing to consider. Doctors have a unique relationship that pertains to their ability to care for a patient. Being a responsible doctor means understanding where the patient is coming from beyond their physical ailment to help them follow through on appropriate medical treatment plans. Doctors have human lives in their hands, and it’s easy to get distracted by the science, bureaucracy, and red-tape to remember the human in front of them. As a pharmacy clerk, I had a different kind of power. I was often the first person a patient interacted with. Understanding this meant I could use that power to make them feel safe, heard, and respected; or I could use it to make them feel like a burden. Social science taught me the responsibility of that power.
It’s also important to remember that different communities have different approaches to health, family roles, and trust. You will meet people of every age, ethnicity, and personal background. You will meet people who have been burned by healthcare before and come to you with a sense of distrust or uncertainty. This is especially where Patient Rapport becomes critical. This is especially true for patients with mental health conditions. Historically patients with a mental health history are stigmatized by healthcare professionals. I worked in a clinic where visible tattoos were allowed as long as they were appropriate. On my left arm just below my elbow I have a moth tattoo with semicolons in its wings. Moths and butterflies are common tattoos symbolizing transformation and evolution. The semicolon is symbolic for those who have thought of ending their life but continued anyway. I have met patients who had the same general idea of combining the butterfly and semicolon for those reasons. My tattoo’s visibility was a silent message to those patients letting them know that not only were they safe with me, but they weren’t alone in their darkness. I never had to say ‘I understand mental health struggles.’ My tattoo said it for me. And in that silence, patients found safety.
Political Science teaches you that inequities aren’t accidents, but aftermaths of systems. It teaches you to ask: Who benefits from the way things are? Who is harmed? Why is it structured that way? In healthcare, that’s everything.
When you understand that healthcare disparities are systemic—not because patients are non-compliant or don’t care about their health—you approach care differently. You stop blaming and start advocating.
Homelessness and poverty are a systemic reality that creates barriers to healthcare. Unhoused people don’t fail to take medications because they don’t care about their health. They face numerous obstacles on being able to follow through on compliance: medication theft, lack of safe storage, inconsistent access to refrigeration, or competing survival needs.
I had a patient who was losing her housing and about to live out of her car. She came in for a regular prescription refill, and I could see fear underneath her composure. I had worked with this patient for years. During a routine refill, she confided that she was losing her housing and was going to be living out of her car. I could see the fear beneath her composure. We had an overstock of lock-boxes that a previous pharmacy staff member ordered, and I gave it to her as a complimentary part of filling with the pharmacy that day. Her demeanor changed instantaneously. The hope returned to her eyes, followed by whispers of gratitude.
That’s what Political Science shows us: To see the systemic barriers people face, and use whatever power and resources you have to navigate those systems with dignity.
This is what happens when social science meets healthcare. You stop seeing patients as problems to solve and start seeing them as humans navigating impossible systems. And you use whatever power you have to help.
A letter to my younger self
If you told my 18 year old self that I was going to return to the medical field and follow a pharmacy career path, I would have laughed. To that I say: you didn’t waste your time studying international relations and political science. You didn’t detour. You were learning the language of humanity.
When you walk into a pharmacy, or any medical setting for that matter, you’re not only there to dispense medication. You’re there to understand that everyone who walks through that door is navigating systems, culture, identity, and fear. Social science taught me that, and it made me a better healer.
If you’re considering a healthcare career and you love studying people, systems, culture, and human behavior; don’t you dare apologize for it. Lean into it. Medicine needs providers who understand that healthcare is fundamentally about human beings, not just human bodies.
The chemistry matters. Protocols matter, and credentials matter.
But so does the person behind the counter who remembers your name, asks about your life, and treats you like you matter. That comes from social science. From understanding people. And that, I believe, should be non-negotiable in healthcare.
Final thoughts
As I sit for my CPhT exam on December 8th, I’m not just studying chemistry and logistics. I’m studying how to be a better healer. And the spine of that understanding is based on understanding the humans I serve.
Ethics Notice: The patient stories in this essay are based on real experiences but have been significantly altered to protect patient privacy. No identifying information has been included.
Syd Weldon 
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