Pharmacist shortage

Making projections about the future adequacy of pharmacy s workforce is made even more challenging because it is highly dependent on the future roles of pharmacists and public expectations. It is clear that a pharmacist shortage currently exists in many regions of... 

How might poor human resources management in pharmacies cause (a) job stress and burnout, (b) medication dispensing errors, and (c) pharmacist shortages ... 

Summary. It is widely accepted that the pharmacist shortage is a reality. Nevertheless, quality gains in the medication use process must move forward and, therefore, multiple, partial solutions should be considered and implemented judiciously. These solutions should be built on the expectation that the demand for pharmacists and their services will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. 

In December 2000, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a Congressionally-mandated report about the pharmacist shortage. The report was titled The Pharmacist Workforce A Study of the Supply and Demand for Pharmacistsd The full text of the report is available on the Web at www.bhpr.hrsa.gov. The principal findings of the report included the following ... 

The data from the ADI project can also be used to estimate the degree of exposure of fhe U.S. population to the pharmacist shortage. Based on state-level demand data, the percentage of the population living in states with varying levels of demand can be calculated for example, in July 2001, 26% of the resident U.S. population lived in states where the demand level was greater than 4.5, 72% in areas where the demand level was between 3.5 and 4.5 and less than 2% in areas where the demand for pharmacists was in balance with available supply. 

Pharmacy technicians assist pharmacists under supervision they contribute particularly to the medication distribution process. Laws and regulations about the use of fechnicians vary from state to state, and there has been pressure to expand the use of pharmacy technicians as the pharmacist shortage has persisted. Unfortunately, there has been a paucity of published dafa about pharmacy technicians. The 2000 report to Congress estimated that there were about 200,000 pharmacy technicians in 2000, a ratio of approximately one technician for every pharmacist. ... 

The existence of a pharmacist shortage in the United States is an established fact. This situation has developed at the same time that national priorities for improved safety and quality in the medication use system have achieved wide support. Because it is unlikely that the number of new pharmacists can be greatly increased, the simultaneous implementation of multiple partial solutions should be considered. These solutions should be considered in the light of continuing progress toward a medication use system of fhe highest quality and a likely scenario that the demand for pharmacisfs and their services will continue to exceed the available supply. 

The Pharmacist Shortage. In California Medicine, Decem-ber/January 1999-2000 at www.healthcarcbusiness.com/ archivc...rniameciicine/current/pulsepharmacist.html (accessed April 27, 2001). 

Drug-related problem is not a major subject in most university programmes in medicine or pharmacy. When there is no specific course, there is often no book covering the topic. In our view, as teachers at various university courses, there has been a shortage of literature that reflects the most important aspects of drug-related problems in the elderly. Medical practitioners, nurses and pharmacists, need to have this knowledge to be able to serve their patients in the best way. 

Pharmacist salaries are rising rapidly due to a labor market shortage. These salaries will drive up costs, making it more difficult for the program to generate profit. 

Several key factors drive the need for automation. A national shortage of pharmacists in the face of ever-increasing prescription volumes is one major impetus. Another is the profound need to reduce the incidence of medication errors. Still another is the opportunity created by automation to enhance the role of pharmacists in patient care. Finally, consumers demand for speed and convenience further enhances the attractiveness of automation in pharmacy operations (Lewis, Albrant, and Hagel, 2002). Technology has the ability to accelerate the movement of pharmacists from the traditional dispensing focus to that of a patient-centered role. 

In 2001, the number of retail prescriptions was 3.3 billion, which is an increase from 2.7 billion in 2000. By 2005, this figure neared 3.4 billion prescriptions (NACDS, 2007). This increase in prescription volume, when combined with the shortage of pharmacists, often results in a decrease in the amount of time available for direct pharmacist involvement in patient education. A 1999 study involving community pharmacies in eight states revealed that 87 percent of all patients received written information with their prescriptions. However, only 35 percent of pharmacists made any reference to the written leaflet, and only 8 percent actually reviewed it with the patient (Svarstad, 2000). Contributing to this gap in patient education is the failure to provide patients with understandable written instructions. 

Pharmacist Workforce Challenges Exploring Todays Manpower Shortage... 

Pharmacists already in the workforce can also contribute to solving the shortage. With the proper incentives, women pharmacists may change from traditional work patterns and work more. Incentives may also induce pharmacists to postpone retirement and remain in the workforce. 

Eventually, in the middle 1990s, the imbalance between supply and demand resolved, at least to the extent that retail employers were able to open new pharmacies and institutional pharmacies were not hampered by workforce shortages. Meanwhile, the efforts to understand the dynamics of the early 1990s shortage led to the realization that data collection on the pharmacist workforce was insufficient. Most available data about workforce issues related to supply while the ability to study demand issues was very limited. Unless both supply and demand data were available and could be compared, it was virtually impossible to reach defensible conclusions about the cause of a workforce imbalance. In response, the PMP committed to a broader collection of data about the pharmacist workforce including demand data. These efforts were hastened by evidence of another shortage of the latter 1990s. 

There was (in 2000) an acute shortage of pharmacists in the United States that was most strongly related to increased demands for pharmacists and pharmaceutical care services. 

The shortage of pharmacists could hinder the important role pharmacists play in reducing medication errors in all practice settings. 

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