An upcoming report on the state's pharmacist shortage may play into the UNC system's decision on two proposals by public universities to expand pharmacy programs.
UNC system officials said today they're still evaluating a request by UNC-Chapel Hill to create a distance education program to offer courses remotely to students in Asheville.
Additionally, the UNC system is considering a UNC-Greensboro request to create its own pharmacy school.
Those two requests are dissimilar and most likely would not both be granted, UNC system President Erskine Bowles said today.
"It's most likely an either/or," he said during a meeting of the UNC system's Board of Governors.
UNC-CH currently has the state's sole public pharmacy school. UNCG wants the second, and has cited a 2002 study by the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-CH that found that the number of retail pharmacists per 10,000 citizens was decreasing even as the state’s population and the demand for prescription drugs was rising.
But is the demand for pharmacists the same as it was several years ago?
That may be the critical question here, and the Sheps Center has a new study on the way in a couple weeks that could shine some light on the current demand, officials said.
Comments
Pharmacist Shortage-NOT!
Mon, 02/22/2010 - 16:41 — yardleyedAlthough there may be a shortage of pharmacists in certain areas of the country, there is developing a large national glut, currently now in large metropolitan areas, but rapidly spreading elsewhere. In all the large cities of the northeast, and in places like California and Chicago there is already an over-abundance and it is getting worse monthly! The schools of Pharmacy have made a fortune from chain drug stores interested in seeing that pharmacists would be readily available to work like speed demons filling prescriptions and break neck speed and manning the drive in windows, as well as selling cigarettes and novelties. However, the day has arrived! Salaries which have been rising in the last several years are starting to go in reverse, and in suburban NY, Philadelphia, and Boston there are sometimes a dozen applicants for each job. The new "roles" for pharmacists that the schools have spouted, have not arrived, and the "aging" population will not necessarily add more jobs. Improved technologies, increased use of technicians, , mail order drug plans, and a more sophisticated populace will spell doom. Not to mention the army of foreign graduates who are also flooding the market in metropolitan areas. (No English proficiency often required)! Before u add a new school, talk to active practitioners (not academics) all over the country!!
As a graduate of UNC's school of pharmacy..
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 19:12 — UNC1998and a practicing pharmacist in NC for 12 years I think I know a little about job prospects for RPh's in the state. This past graduating class was the first I've heard of where all graduates did not have jobs upon graduating. Certainly the economy had something to do with this. It's true that the population is aging and growing here in central NC, espcially. I know from behind the scenes that technology is being worked on to lessen the demand for pharmacists in the stores. In a high volume store there may be demand for 3 or 4 RPh's to be on duty at one time. New technologies and techniques will lessen this demand, thus lowering overall job prospects. The future of the profession is in clinical services. I just don't know how receptive other clinicians and payors will be to that movement.