Something that the money hungry schools will not tell you--there is not going to be a great demand for pharmacists within the next 4-5 years. Increased licensing of technicians, more sophisticated technology, wholesale importation of foreign pharmacists, governmental restraints and a badly splintered and divided small profession all spell DOOM!
Pharmacists have long been famous for not being able to unite for their own best interest. As a group they are politically and culturally backward with very little real lobbying and persuasive powers. Yes indeed, there is a current shortage of pharmacists, but that is being increasingly seen mainly in rural areas. In urban and suburban areas within 50 miles of pharmacy schools, the job market is becoming saturated quickly. Many if not most people want to live near cities. Pharmacists are no different. Jobs are going begging in the sticks,while urban jobs are becoming increasingly hard to find. The schools, being profit driven, and being goaded by the drugstore chains have succeeded in throwing oodles of new graduates in the market. These schools of Pharmacy and their faculty have little appreciation of the life and work of the retail pharmacist. They push constantly "Clinical involvement" when in fact there is really little in retail. The field of Pharmacy has been living on a dream of "potential possibilities" little of which come to fruition. The fact is that Pharmacists are dealing in vending products and providing information- not hands on activities as other medical professionals. Information specialists and vendors are much more likely to be phased out or farmed out to other professionals such as nurses, who even though they do not possess the same degree of knowledge, are "hands on" and are much more "Wholistic" in their practice. They are also far more numerous and wield far greater political power.
I have just started this blog to give some food for thought in an area in which I feel it is badly needed.
Sincerely, Ed, RPh
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I totally agree. The schools are obsessed with larger class sizes and a fantasy dream of clinical pharmacists in every grocery store. Now even Walgreens and Walmart are not hiring in many major locations and the classes of 2009 are having trouble getting what scraps are left from the brief shortage. When the giant classes of 2010, 2011 and beyond graduate, there will be downward pressure on salaries, or worse - "pharmacist" will become a part-time position with lousy benefits.
The glut is already here!!
The recruiter for the Rocky Mountain Poison Center tells me that (Aug 11, 2009) 6 months ago a posting for a pharmacist position would generate 3 to 4 applicants. Now he gets 20 to 30 applicants. One hospital position at a major Denver hospital generated 40 applicants, according to the hiring manager (if you’re still interviewing for a pharmacist job, and I’m sure many of you are, just ask how many applicants this year compared to last). Schools continue to open, and class sizes are continually increased. In metro Denver, the number of new grads has gone from 120 four years ago to 170 new students in the state school and 60 more at the new private school. That’s almost twice as many!
Schools generate revenue by making PharmDs. There is no incentive for schools to consider their students’ employment prospects. An east coast recruiter tells me that all major metropolitan areas are totally saturated for hospital pharmacists and he’s now placing only in rural Maine. A major chain with that has been opening 500 stores per year is done with that and enhancing services at their extant stores, which does not require additional pharmacists. There still is no viable model for covering expenses for Medication Therapy Management.
With this glut, qualification inflation has set in. A hospital in Denver posted for a pharmacist, accepting only applications for PharmDs and strongly preferring a residency. Many good, experienced RPhs will be locked out. As the engineered glut continues, the “clinical” pharmacists driving pharmacy education will get their wish to have all PharmDs complete residencies. But will residencies be available? And afterwards, will jobs be available? Many pharmacists have postponed retirement, having seen over ½ of their retirement wiped out by the stock market crash.
Approximately 30% of my class could not secure employment as of graduation (Informal survey—representative of class in terms of academic standing, work ethic, desire for immediate employment, internship experience, etc.
BEWARE!
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