During the enigmatically termed "holidays", a number of final year pharmacy students have opted to participate in rural placements. Three 50-hour pharmacy placements are required to be completed over the course of a year as part of the course requirements. Students have literally been sent all over NSW and the reports are slowly filtering in.

There's been talk of broken hearts in Broken Hill, peaceful pursuits in Byron Bay, boot scooting fun in Tamworth, wild behaviour in Dubbo, and compulsive word repetition in Wagga Wagga.
Regardless of the location, the experiences have been positive.
Moreover, it has provided the chance to encounter pharmacy in the hospital setting, for many a new experience.

At the University of Sydney, over two thirds of students work regularly in a community pharmacy whilst next to none are employed in the hospital sector.
All pharmacy students have undertaken placements in community pharmacies at some stage, whilst only a handful have ever set foot inside a hospital dispensary.

So when it came time to select preferences for pharmacy placements, it wasn't surprising that 9 out of every 10 students indicated hospital as their first choice, surpassing interest in community pharmacy, aged care facilities and specialist clinics.
Whether the interest stems from keen desire or just plain curiosity, a sad truth is that a proportion of these students will never get the chance.
Simply put there are not enough student positions at the participating Sydney hospitals to cover the demand.

It's widely known that we are experiencing a pharmacist shortage.
The hospital pharmacy sector is no exception.
A recent report, released by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and undertaken by Health Care Intelligence Pty Ltd, estimate a national vacancy rate of 14% of hospital pharmacist positions.
Other sources show that 79% of pre-registration pharmacists were retained in the hospital workforce upon registration.
What does all this mean?
It shows that students who complete registration at hospitals are happy to continue, but the vacancies still aren't being met.
It would seem that there are two options to tackle this issue - increase the number of hospital registration positions or encourage "community" registered pharmacists to switch codes.

For either of these propositions, the key is exposure.
Community pharmacy is well known to students (due to reasons mentioned earlier) compared to hospital.
So when registration decisions loom, the choice is often guided by the principle of "better the devil you know" - its only natural.
What better way to showcase hospital pharmacy, then to final year students in the form of a placement? Generally it is the level of staffing that will dictate the number of students that a hospital can manage - and we are aware of the unhealthy state of hospital staffing.
My challenge to hospital pharmacy is to push past the comfort zone and agree to take on an extra student.
It may not seem easy.
It may not seem logistically feasible.
But it is a way forward!

Students acquainted with hospital pharmacy will appreciate its benefits and may reassess its stereotypical disadvantages.
Students acquainted with hospital pharmacy will be more likely to register in hospital pharmacy or consider switching to hospital post-registration.
The enthusiasm of students to try hospital is obvious; will someone step up to take advantage?