More people are relying on prescription medication to treat illnesses,
but the pharmacists trained to hand out those sometimes lifesaving
drugs come in short supply.
Add to that Arizona's booming population, and you've got the makings
of a shortage that is spurring some pharmacies to offer signing
bonuses and nearly six-figure salaries.
About 45 percent of the nation's population has been prescribed at
least one drug compared with 35 percent in 1994 - making the United
States the most medicated of all nations, several health experts say.
Pharmacy school is hard, but the problem is not a lack of applicants.
"One of the problems with the pharmacist shortage is that colleges
cannot turn out pharmacists fast enough to meet the demand," said Don
Featherstone, who hires pharmacists for Bashas' supermarkets in
southern Arizona. "It's an ongoing search. There is rarely a time when
you're not looking for somebody."
Qualified pharmacists can save lives, catching potentially fatal
prescription errors and making sure patients know how to take their
medication. Hundreds of people die each year because of prescription
errors, researchers say. Thousands more die because of adverse drug
reactions.
Given such problems - and hoping to help build the state's biomedical
hub - University of Arizona officials plan to expand the College of
Pharmacy into Phoenix as early as this fall.
"There is a critical shortage of pharmacists across the country," said
Judy Bernas, UA's associate vice president for advancement. "We will
start small, then possibly grow to the size of the Tucson programs."
Changes in practice
The Phoenix program won't just aid in the pharmacists shortage. It
could help revolutionize the practice.
UA officials plan to introduce a new field of study to Arizona - a
rare clinical pharmacogenomics program to teach would-be pharmacists
to tailor drugs to each patient's genetics.
This could reduce chances of patients having allergic reactions and
side effects, "even to prevent a liver problem," said J. Lyle Bootman,
UA's pharmacy dean.
"It's happening in clinical settings, but is very, very limited,"
Bootman said. "Much more research must be done."
Such a practice could especially benefit minority groups, older people
and patients with diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
The method builds on the centuries-old practice of compounding
custom-made medicine. These days, most pharmacists have little
occasion to use such custom mixes, but the knowledge involved is
critical, experts say.
"Medicine is about to go through some significant changes, and we need
people out there so when you're handed a drug, it's not just
everybody's. It's going to work for you," said David Burks, senior
director of development for UA's pharmacy college.
Pharmacists would be among those at the helm of this change.
Adding to the history pharmacists already keep on their patients, they
would maintain a database of genetic information for each person.
Wanted: skilled pharmacists
But the immediate problem is managing the workload and the time it
takes to fill a prescription.
Because of the competition for more pharmacists, those who are
qualified in Arizona can expect salaries approaching the six-figure
range, with bonuses between $20,000 and $30,000, said Featherstone, a
practicing pharmacist whose company is opening about 10 new Arizona
pharmacies each year.
Just two years ago, bonuses averaged about $15,000, he said.
"The sign-on bonus is actually new to pharmacy. In the last seven or
eight years, it's become very common to offer them," he said.
More than 5,300 licensed pharmacists live in Arizona, but about 15
percent don't practice, the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy reported.
The number of pharmacies has doubled. The board reported there were
more than 1,500 registered chain, independent, hospital and other
pharmacies last year, up from 765 in 1995.
Some pharmacists work multiple jobs in the field and others work more
than 40 hours a week, which can result in errors. Meanwhile, patients
must sometimes wait days before a prescription is filled.
The demand is so severe that pharmacist and UA College of Pharmacy
graduate Amy Thai is already considering expanding her six-month-old
practice to offer Internet and mail-order sales.
"By 2008, the baby boomers will reach retirement age and that's going
to have a great impact on the pharmacy," said Thai, 28, owner of
Arizona Discount Pharmacy in Mesa.
Nationwide statistics say the same.
Since 1995, the nation has seen a 54 percent increase in the number of
prescriptions handed out - now more than 3.2 billion annually, the
National Association of Chain Drug Stores reported.
About 18 percent of the population is prescribed three or more drugs,
compared with 12 percent in 1994, the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services noted in a 2005 report on the nation's health.
Increasingly common outpatient surgery, swift development of new drugs
and the push to reduce deaths from adverse drug reactions are also
driving the need for more pharmacists.
Yet too few training slots exist for the number of students interested
in studying pharmacy, said John Murphy, associate dean of UA's College
of Pharmacy.
UA's pharmacy college in Tucson is filled to capacity and graduates
nearly 150 students each year.
That's why the Phoenix program - which should produce more and
better-trained pharmacists - is so hopeful, David Burks said.
"If you have more doctors and more pharmacists," Burks said, "you'll
have a health care system that can deliver more equitably and faster
to more people, sooner."

Labels: No Prescription, Online Pharmacy, Prescription Drugs

# posted by Network @ 6:06 PM