US
Pharm. 2006;6:3.
Today the word "manpower" is being used
synonymously with men and women in the workplace. This is best evidenced by
the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which lists the politically correct definition
of "power available from or supplied by the physical effort of human beings."
When it comes to practicing pharmacists though, manpower is a bit of a
misnomer.
According to the National Pharmacist
Workforce Studyreleased by the Pharmacy Manpower Project, Inc., the number of
women practicing pharmacy jumped from 31% in 1990 to 46% in 2004. In other
words, nearly half of all practicing pharmacists today are actually women. I
think most pharmacists like me who graduated some 30 years ago will find this
number astonishing. I remember that when I graduated from pharmacy school,
there were only three women in my graduating class of nearly 60 men; and the
average number of female pharmacy students in the entire school hovered around
5%.
And while the increasing ratio of women to
men in the profession does not bother me at all, I was disturbed by some of
the other findings that came out of the Manpower Project study. One troubling
trend is that the number of pharmacists (both male and female) who are working
part-time increased by nearly 4% over the past four years. This means patients
may not see their favorite pharmacist's face behind the Rx counter when they
shop. Another unsettling fact exposed by the study should come as no surprise
to any retail pharmacist: There has been a steady increase in pharmacists'
workload. This trend is particularly disconcerting because an increased
workload will undoubtedly lead to more errors and less time to counsel
patients--not a good combination in the effort to recruit new pharmacists to
the profession. To make things worse, more time behind the counter instead of
in front counseling patients flies in the face of what pharmacists'
expectations really are. The study suggests that they would like to do more
counseling and less dispensing.
So, what does this all mean? The answer
should be fairly obvious. If management does not reduce workloads and allow
pharmacists to actively participate in counseling patients, the shortage of
retail pharmacists is likely to continue unabated, a trend that is already
evident. According to the survey, there has been a drop of nearly 2% in the
number of pharmacists, both male and female, actively practicing pharmacy in
the past four years.
But all may not be doom and gloom when it
comes to recruiting new pharmacists. I am encouraged by a recent statement
from Mark McClellan, MD, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS), who announced the formation of the Pharmacy Quality
Alliance (PQA), a collaborative effort among the pharmacy community, health
plans, government, employers, physicians, and consumer groups aimed at
improving the quality of health care. In his announcement, Dr. McClellan
specifically spoke about the pharmacists' role in counseling patients and
improving compliance. He hit the nail on the head when he said pharmacists
have a great deal to offer in these areas but it may require changes in the
way pharmacy care is financed and delivered. It's about time that a respected
public figure recognized pharmacists for our training and devotion to making
our health care system stronger. Now it is up to today's practicing
pharmacists to not disappoint him; we owe that legacy to future graduating
pharmacists.
Harold E. Cohen, R. Ph.
Editor-in-Chief
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