Narrator: This is Science Today. According to a new study, the role pharmacists play as health care providers is unclear, especially to the people who need them most - elderly Americans who regularly take multiple medications for chronic diseases. Sharon Youmans, a professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco, led the study.

Youmans: I think that people may not feel that they understand what they do. Like there was one woman who said, "I didn't know I could ask a pharmacist about over the counter drug medication recommendation", which is another huge area because people can come in and buy things and they have no idea what they're buying and if it's an appropriate drug for them.

Narrator: In one of the first studies of its kind, Youmans interviewed elderly African Americans about their perceptions of their community pharmacist.

Youmans: The group that I talked to, they took on average about four to six medications that have several chronic diseases and so they're at high risk of having a bad outcome if they're not aware of what they should mix and not mix.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.