Automation and technology should never replace face-to-face interactions between a pharmacy professional and their patients.
The Changing Pharmacist Workforce
In addition to a changing population, market demand factors, such as market growth due to increased competition among retail pharmacies, has led to expanded hours and new store openings. Outside of retail, the complexity of medication management in hospital, long term care, and home health settings is only getting more complex.
Some factors driving this include:
• Increased complexity of medication management in the hospital, long term care, and home health care settings
• Increased demand for clinical disease management in outpatient settings
• Increased responsibilities in assuring quality in all steps of the drug use process and in prevention of medication errors
The increasing demand for clinical disease management in outpatient settings begs for an expanded and qualified workforce of pharmacy professionals. The increasing responsibility of assuring quality in all steps of the drug use process and preventing medication errors, only makes the pharmacists’ role more critical in today’s healthcare environment.
Unfortunately, the practices and systems looking to hire the right people to fulfill these needs are struggling to do so. Health systems and hospitals in particular are experiencing severe shortages of pharmacy technicians. Pharmacy administrators have reported in a recent survey from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), that turnover rates of at least 21% in 2021 and nearly 1 in 10 noted that they had lost 41% or more of their technicians. Read more >
