Work force survey results released

The Pharmacy Manpower Project Inc., Alexandria, VA, has released the results of the National Pharmacist Work force Survey: 2000. The survey was conducted by a team of pharmacy work force researchers at Midwest colleges of pharmacy during April and May 2000. An overall response rate of 46% was achieved for the survey.

According to the Pharmacy Manpower Project, the overall objective of the survey was to obtain reliable information on demographic and practice characteristics of the pharmacist work force in the United States during the year 2000. Specific objectives included: to describe the pharmacist work force in the United States in terms of demographic and practice characteristics, to examine factors influencing hours worked annually by pharmacists and to describe work patterns in terms of setting and hours worked.

According to the results of the survey, only 73.3% of all licensed pharmacists were working full-time in pharmacy during 2000. Part-time pharmacy employment accounted for another 14.9% of licensed pharmacists.

Over 21% of females were employed in pharmacy part-time, compared with 9.9% of males. Overall, 91.2% of females were employed either full-time or part-time in pharmacy, compared with 85.8% of males. Over 40% (43.4%) of licensed pharmacists were females.

Where pharmacists work

The survey showed that 55.4% of actively practicing pharmacists practice in a community pharmacy setting. The largest proportion of full-time pharmacists work in chain settings (25%), followed by hospitals (24.8%), other practice settings (13.6%) and independent pharmacies (13.3%). The largest proportion of part-time pharmacists work in independent settings (30.9%), followed by hospitals (20.3%) and chains (16.1%). In terms of position, the largest proportion of full-time pharmacists are in staff positions (55.7%), and 33.3% are in management positions.

The largest proportion of full-time pharmacists are hospital staff pharmacists (17.7%), followed by chain staff (16.6%), positions in other patient care settings (15.8%) and chain management (8.5%). The largest proportion of males working full-time worked in chains (25.4%), followed by hospitals (22.3%) and independent pharmacies (16.8%). The largest proportion of females worked in hospitals (28.4%), followed by chains (24.5%) and other practice settings (13.4%). Overall, full-time pharmacists worked an average of 44.2 hours per week and 48.7 weeks per year. Full-time pharmacists in independent pharmacies worked the most hours (47.7 per week), and pharmacists in supermarkets worked the fewest hours (41.9 per week). Of full-time pharmacists, 12.3% reported holding a second job, compared with 18.0% of pharmacists working part-time. For full-time pharmacists, the largest proportion of second jobs were in hospitals (28.7%), followed by other practice settings (26.6%), independent pharmacies (12.2%) and chains (10.6%). Over 90% (92.3%) of pharmacists working in pharmacy in 1995 were actively practicing in 2000. One noticeable difference between 1995 and 2000 is the larger percentage of females working part-time in 2000 compared with 1995. Another trend is the increase in the percentage of all pharmacists working in mass merchandiser and supermarket pharmacies in 2000 compared with 1995. Although the proportion of pharmacists working in chain pharmacy dropped slightly from 1995 to 2000 (24.8% vs. 23.3%, respectively), a greater drop occurred in independent settings (from 19.0% in 1995 to 16.5% in 2000).

Over one-third of pharmacists working in chain, mass merchandiser and supermarket pharmacies in 1995 no longer work in the same setting. Comparatively, only 25.4% of pharmacists working in a hospital setting in 1995 do not work in a hospital setting in 2000. Males appear to have been more likely to work in the same practice setting (not necessarily for the same employer) between 1995 and 2000 relative to females. PR