Computachem Services sees an opportunity to reverse the trend of a diminishing pool of trained pharmacy human resources, by developing retention strategies, specialised training in new skills such as information technology, and in the provision of access to continuing education, principally via the Internet.
It is necessary to understand what is happening in the industry at large.
Skilled
human resources are becoming scarce in pharmacy and the position is liable
to worsen as we continue into the new millennium.
All pharmacy areas are affected, including hospital pharmacy departments,
with the situation becoming chronic in rural and remote areas.
The reasons for pharmacist shortage are multiple:
*
Professional morale is in decline, concurrent with a harsher economic
climate and stress increases in the workplace. These processes are all
exacerbated as the Internet creates either an opportunity or a threat.
There are many pharmacists on the register that have made themselves unavailable
for community and hospital work.
* Medicine requires a degree in any other discipline before students can enter this faculty. There is a leakage of pharmacy students to medicine, because it is a logical course through which to achieve entry requirements.
* The lengthening of university courses has initially caused a temporary shortage of graduates.
* There is some evidence that a loss of new disillusioned pharmacists is occurring in the community, because of perceived unethical practices.
*
The high purchase cost of community practice is seen as a deterrent to
being able to improve income levels, and opportunity is sought elsewhere.
The
pharmaceutical industry is offering more varied work with higher remuneration
and there is leakage to this area.
* Attitudes are changing towards work and many are endeavoring to adapt their work to a chosen lifestyle. This means working lesser hours and being available on a more or less irregular basis.
* Workplaces are not flexible, interesting, or financially stimulating and there is a permanent loss as pharmacists seek alternatives totally outside of pharmacy. Hospital pharmacy is particularly vulnerable in this respect with its low hourly rate coupled with high levels of responsibility.
* The average age of community pharmacist proprietors is 55+ and the retirement rate is increasing. There is the prospect that many of these pharmacists will not be able to sell their practices, with the consequent loss of future job opportunities.
Trained pharmacy resources in the form of dispensary assistants and pharmacy assistants qualified in one or more sales specialty are also becoming scarce.
Human Resource Strategies
A human resource strategy needs to be urgently put in place by Pharmacy, and should embrace the following elements:
1. The introduction of Enterprise Agreements and the creation of more flexible workplaces.
2. The concept of working in sessions of say, four hours duration, with the option of being able to work a fixed number of sessions under a contract. This concept would suit skill areas such as consultant pharmacists, women with family commitments and those pharmacists seeking an active retirement.
3. A permanent training and education component, particularly looking to areas such as the Internet, to provide continual knowledge upgrades.
4. A blurring of the distinction between hospital and community pharmacists to enable an interchange. Hospitals are particularly suited to provide clinical training, and even community pharmacist proprietors would benefit from this interaction. The hospital may also gain a human resource not previously available to it.
5.
A more centralised listing service for those people seeking employment
and pharmacists seeking employees. The service should list pharmacists,
dispensary assistants and skilled pharmacy assistants in their respective
groups, and as a given, must be accessible by Internet. These listings
are beginning to appear, but more use should be made of e-mail to circulate
them.
Computachem Services has structured such a list (see
Employment), accessed by its twice monthly e-newsletter, and contains
a list of employment sites in its Interweb
Directory.
6. A forward planning and conscious upgrade of existing positions, and the development of new pharmacy positions, that will be required as corporate model pharmacies emerge in the immediate future.
While much of the above requires a rethink by the wider base of the Pharmaceutical Profession, there are many aspects that can be developed and implemented by individual community environments.
Services Provided
Computachem
Services has access to skills that can develop stable, interesting, retentive
and happy workplace environments.
Training is delivered as a straight consulting service, or as a mix of
consulting and business coaching.
Our associate, Diplomacy Consulting Service, is a well known and recognised
specialist in the area of enterprise agreements and the identification
of HR problems and their solutions
We are able to provide staff training in a variety of skills, including
IT skills, which are in short supply as we enter the e-commerce era.
Other training skills include inventory management, book-keeping, marketing
and display, catalogue production, management of loyalty clubs.
In the professional area, specifically for consultant pharmacists, training
in style, practice management and the development and marketing of professional
services.
Computachem Services is gearing itself for the corporate style pharmacy
that will emerge, when enabling legislation is effected. There will be
a dramatic need to fill middle management ranks with specialist pharmacists
and non-pharmacist people as a whole new management culture and infrastructure
emerges.
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