Every now and again I run into conflicting realities that just make my head hurt.
By day (and early into most evenings) I work as an admission director at an academic health center. We focus solely on professional health providers and graduate researchers. One of our programs is the doctor of pharmacy, better known as the “PharmD”.
As a kid way back in the 20th century, I used to read these comic books in the barbershop waiting my turn. They had these cool-if-you’re-9-years-old ads in the back. You could order a guide about how to do some pushups and get all swole so bullies would stop kicking sand in your face and you could get a girlfriend.
You could even order jumping beans or send in a drawing and get into art school. But the one thing I always wanted to order was called “sea monkeys”. They looked like they were having so much fun. Apparently, you just added water, and you could have a miniature kingdom of pets in seconds.
Now that I’m old and jaded, I know they were just sending out packets of brine shrimp. Despite my starry-eyed perception, the reality was it was lame.
The Rise and Fall of Pharmacy Student Enrollment
This phenomenon is kind of what happened with Pharm.D. programs from 2003 to 2020. In 17 years, the number of pharmacy schools grew from 43 participating members using the pharmacy common application service (PharmCAS) to 135 programs.
For the decade, the number of applicants grew from only 4,683 to a high of 17,617 in 2013. Selectivity was about 70% nationwide. Candidates were applying to 4 to 5 pharmacy schools.
Not un-coincidentally, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, or the MMA, as we call it in the streets, was passed by Congress. The MMA ramped up benefits from 2003 to 2006 expanding the market almost overnight. Market forces created the demand for pharmacists which created the demand for pharmacy schools to train and educate them.
Since 2013, pharmacy enrollment has been on a steady downward decline. The job market for retail pharmacists was saturated and retail chains went through numerous mergers and acquisitions. Demographics and college-going rates also came into play. By this past admission cycle, the pool of over 17,000 applicants in 2013 has fallen to about 11,000.
Pharmacist Career Outlook
At the start of this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected a decline in the need for pharmacists through 2031 of around 2%, despite pharmacists being listed as the 4th highest-paid healthcare occupation with a median pay of $128,570. Midway through this year, that projection was revised to predict a growth of 2% over a decade.
And now for the cognitive dissonance…
Current Trends in Pharmacy
Despite all this, we are still experiencing a shortage of pharmacists. As a result, the following trends in pharmacy are beginning to emerge:
1. Reduced hours. Articles like this appear weekly about pharmacies reducing hours due to a shortage of pharmacists. My own local pharmacy has posted reduced-hours flyers recently. Maybe yours has as well.2. Increased pharmacy signing bonuses. Community pharmacies (what we call retail chains) are urgently contacting Mate Soric, Pharm.D., BCPS, our chair of pharmacy practice at NEOMED, with offers of large signing bonuses. Bonuses range between $75,000 and $100,000. This is from a communication Dr. Soric recently received this summer from a VERY well-known national community pharmacy chain:
“We are pleased to inform you that as of August we have AGAIN increased our Pharmacist rates and have also restructured our sign-on bonus program. We have positions available in the Cincinnati, Dayton and Lima areas as well as Northern Kentucky. These new rates and bonus programs are definitely something you will want to hear about! They will pique your interest for sure!”
3. Pharmacists are retiring at greater rates than new ones are graduating. Meanwhile, our Director of Pipeline Programs, Fady Abdlrasul, Pharm.D., estimates that about 13,000 pharmacists will retire each year for the foreseeable future while only about 8,500 will graduate this year. That’s an annual shortage of 4,500 to 5,000 pharmacists nationally.
The Challenge Facing Community Pharmacists
Every year the pharmacist workforce is losing about 1.5% of its workforce, while simultaneously non-retail, clinical pharmacist jobs are exploding whilst competing with the community and retail pharmacist shortage.
There’s an acute pharmacist shortage right now that is completely out of step with projections–but, why?
On the Heels of the Great Resignation: Why Are So Many Pharmacist Jobs Open?
The great resignation is a combination of the macro employment trends leading up to the 2020 COVID disruption, the 2020 – 2021 COVID economic impact, and the 2020 reshuffling of the workforce.
Many employees began to rethink their careers, work conditions, and long-term goals or just retire. While the lasting impact of the last several years is the subject of conjecture, there’s reason to speculate we are in for a lasting trend of a pharmacist shortage given the career flexibility, pay, and increasing opportunities outside of retail pharmacy coinciding with an acute need for retail pharmacists.
These factors really are “compounding” (see what I just did there?) the retirements of the Boomers in large numbers. Whatever the factors and degree of lasting impact, what we know for a fact is that pharmacy schools have available seats for new students by the thousands nationwide and post-graduation employment and clinical residency have outstanding opportunities.
On an obvious level, the serious mismatch between opportunity and candidates is irrational.
Our theory is that college students really don’t know what pharmacy is and what opportunities pharmacists really have. People think it is just putting pills in a bottle when it is so much more. If you are interested in learning more to present options to your students, here are a few resources:
- NEOMED offers a free pharmacist shadowing program. As in free. No moolah, no deniro. Students can choose from over a dozen areas of practice to shadow. It takes a bit of work to get approved in a clinical setting but it’s worth it.
- NEOMED provides free career counseling sessions. These can be either one-on-one or small group sessions on your campus or over Zoom. Contact Dr. Fady Abdlrasul, NEOMED Pharm.D. Class of 2013, for more information at fabdlrasul@neomed.edu.
- NEOMED offers pharmacy career podcasts we produce on campus. These 30 to 45-minute episodes are a great listen during your commute. Turn off the politics and sports talk. Neither the Browns nor the Bengals are going anywhere this year anyway. Put your drive time to better use.
Until next time…
Have a thought or something to add? Or just want to give me another perspective? I might use it in the next blog. Feel free to continue the conversation at JBarrett1@neomed.edu.
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