Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Objective. To examine available data and actions surrounding current pharmacy workforce issues in the United States and United Kingdom.
Methods. Published pharmacy workforce data from the United States and United Kingdom were gathered from various sources, including PUBMED, Internet search engines, and pharmacy organization websites. Data was collated from additional sources including scientific literature, internal documents, news releases, and policy positions.
Results. The number of colleges and schools of pharmacy has expanded by approximately 50% in both the United States and United Kingdom over the previous decade. In the United States, continued demand for the pharmacy workforce has been forecasted, but this need is based on outdated supply figures and assumptions for economic recovery. In the United Kingdom, workforce modeling has predicted a significant future oversupply of pharmacists, and action within the profession has attempted to address the situation through educational planning and regulation.
Conclusion. Workforce planning is an essential task for sustaining a healthy profession. Recent workforce planning mechanisms in the United Kingdom may provide guidance for renewed efforts within the profession in the United States.
Introduction
Health care is an environment of constant evolution and growth. In the last several decades, the role of the pharmacist in the United States has shifted from being product-driven to a patient-focused, integrated member of the health care system. The profession has seen changes in training structures, increased uptake of postgraduate residency training, and growth in the need for services as a result of expansion of third-party coverage, community chain pharmacies, and ultimately, prescription volume. Today, pharmacists are confronted with a quickly aging patient population and health care reform that must be integrated into their practice. The past several years have also seen a rapidly expanding market of pharmacy schools and an increasing student enrollment. Concerns have emerged that this growth may be too expansive, possibly leading to a detrimental effect upon the future workforce and its sustainability within the job market.
This issue is not unique to the United States as similar apprehensions are being voiced in other developed areas of the world, namely in the United Kingdom, which has seen similar evolution of the pharmacy profession and now faces the same concerns regarding the expansion of enrollment and workforce. However, as the United Kingdom operates within the realm of the National Health Service (NHS), a publicly-funded health care system, the scope of and approach to the issue is different than those in the United States and may provide a useful comparison for understanding the issue and the approaches to address it.