LOW morale in the community pharmacy sector is hurting the profession, and could impact the availability of a skilled hospital pharmacy workforce, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2021 report warns.
The document, released this week, noted there was growing uncertainty about the future availablity of a skilled pharmacy workforce, despite noting significant growth in the numbers of students training to become pharmacists since 1997.
"Only 28% of community pharmacists recommend pharmacy as a career," the authors said.
"Although hospital pharmacy morale appears higher, with 44% of hospital pharmacists recommending a pharmacy career, reduced community pharmacy morale impacts the willingness of talented people to enter the profession, threatening hospital pharmacist workforce availability.
"Pharmacy leaders should consider how to promote a career in hospital pharmacy more broadly, as low morale in community pharmacy impacts the general perception of pharmacy as a career and hospital pharmacy is currently only 'visible' for students well into their undergraduate degree when clinical placements occur."
The report also noted that hospital pharmacy "has long struggled with the issue of specialisation", with limited access to certifications or qualifications for many hospital pharmacy specialties.
"Most specialists' roles are filled on a chicken-and-egg basis: an ICU pharmacist position should be filled by an ICU pharmacist, but the only way to become an ICU pharmacist is to have filled an ICU pharmacist position," the authors said.
"The development of Advanced Training Residencies (ATRs) represents probably the most important step to date towards a mature model of recognition of specialist practice and skills."
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