The Australian pharmacist workforce: employment status, practice profile and job satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE: The aims were to determine Australian registered pharmacists' current employment status, practice profile and professional satisfaction. METHOD: A questionnaire was mailed to all registered pharmacists (n=7764) on the Pharmacy Boards of Victoria and South Australia's registers; 19 were returned undeliverable. Quantitative data were entered and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 17. Qualitative data were subjected to a thematic analysis. RESULTS: 1627 (21%) pharmacists responded: 259 (16%) were registered as pharmacists but no longer worked in the pharmacy profession. A total of 1366 respondents reported still working as pharmacists. Of the 1366, 912 (67%) indicated that they spend most of their time in a clinical area; 233 (17%) spend most of their time in 'non-clinical pharmacist work (i.e. dispensing as technical supply)'; 216 (16%) worked in other non-clinical roles and; 1053 (77%) were professionally satisfied. CONCLUSION: Measuring the pharmacist workforce based on registration data significantly overestimates the available clinical pharmacist workforce: 708 (44%) respondents were no longer working in the profession, were not mainly involved in clinical practice or were working in non-clinical roles. A significant re-professionalisation program is needed if pharmacists' unique knowledge and skills are to contribute to better healthcare delivery.

Provision of medicines information in Australian community pharmacies.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the provision of consumer medicines information in Australian community pharmacies. METHOD: Two methods were employed. One was an exit survey involving consumers just leaving a community pharmacy (n = 554). A total of 42 pharmacies from 6 states were selected randomly. Another was a telephone survey conducted with people aged 15 and over (n = 2,005). The sample was stratified by region at the level of capital city, regional urban and rural with minimum quotas for each category. RESULTS: In the exit survey, 13 (6.4%) of the 208 respondents collecting a script received written instructions such as the Consumer Medicines Information (CMI), including 7 (15%) receiving their prescription for the first time and 6 (4%) who came for a subsequent supply. In the phone survey, 876 (46%)of the 1,576 respondents who ever get prescriptions or OTC medicines declared they never or rarely receive written information on how to use a medicine apart from what is on the bottle or packaging. CONCLUSION: The strategy of CMI distribution via pharmacies in Australia has failed to reach acceptable levels. Further strategies have to be implemented by the professional and consumer organisations to ensure consumers receive appropriate essential medicine information.

Nationwide collaborative development of learning outcomes and exemplar standards for Australian pharmacy programmes.

OBJECTIVES: Internationally, the preparation of pharmacy graduates for professional practice has evolved from educating for capacities for practice, to a focus on competencies, and most recently, on assuring graduate outcomes. Consequently, there is an increasing emphasis on the specification of and accountability around student learning outcomes. This, in turn, has implications for teaching and assessment. The aim of the study was to harmonise the various expectations and regulatory requirements for Australian pharmacy education programmes through the development of learning outcomes and exemplar standards for all entry-level pharmacy graduates. METHODS: Learning outcomes and exemplar standards were developed through a participatory action research framework which involved academic staff representatives from pharmacy schools in Australia, pharmacy student representatives, and the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC, the accreditation body for Australian pharmacy programs) involving an iterative process of dissemination and seeking of feedback. KEY FINDINGS: The key result from the project was the formulation of national pharmacy learning outcomes and exemplar standards (PhLOS) for all students graduating from entry-level pharmacy programmes. These have been endorsed by both students and academics. CONCLUSIONS: Learning outcomes have been developed through a collaborative process for pharmacy programmes across Australia through harmonisation of the various expectations and regulatory requirements for pharmacy education programmes. Application of these learning outcomes and exemplar standards will ensure that all graduates of all entry-level pharmacy programmes will have achieved at least the same threshold, regardless of the university from which they graduate prior to entering their internship year.

Do South Australian pharmacy interns have the educational and behavioural precursors to meet the objectives of Australia's health care reform agenda?

OBJECTIVE: To explore South Australian (SA) pharmacy interns' values, beliefs and motivations to study pharmacy and their assessment of how well their pharmacy education has prepared them for activities required of all health professionals under Australia's health care reforms. METHODS: A postal questionnaire was sent to all 136 SA pharmacy interns enrolled in SA intern training programmes in February 2010 (second month of the intern training programme). KEY FINDINGS: Sixty (44%) of SA pharmacy interns responded; 75% selected pharmacy as a career because of an interest in health-related sciences and 65% valued working with patients. Respondents believed their pharmacy education prepared them for patient care (80%), providing medicine information (72%) and primary health care delivery (68%), but 51% indicated that they were not prepared for multidisciplinary team care. CONCLUSIONS: The positive values, beliefs and motivations expressed by respondents are significant behavioural precursors to meet the requirements of health professionals in Australia's health care reforms. Respondents indicated that their pharmacy education provided appropriate training in a number of relevant professional areas.

Why do Australian registered pharmacists leave the profession? a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Understanding why people choose to leave their professions is important to inform workforce planning to meet community needs. Poor job satisfaction has been linked to health practitioners expressing intentions to leave in other professions such as nursing, occupational therapy and medicine, but little is known about the reasons why pharmacists leave their profession. OBJECTIVE: To explore reasons why Australian pharmacists leave the profession. SETTING: As part of a survey of the Australian pharmacist workforce, a questionnaire was mailed to all registered pharmacists (n = 7,764) on the registers of the Pharmacy Boards of Victoria and South Australia; 1,627 (21 %) responded. Participants, who were registered but no longer working as a pharmacist, were asked to provide contact details if they were willing to be interviewed for this study; 89 (5.5 %) pharmacists accepted an invitation. A proportionate sample of 20 was selected for the interview. METHOD: A semi-structured interview schedule was developed with probe options which encouraged participants to further explore their responses to questions. De-identified audio records of interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Reasons why pharmacists leave the pharmacy profession. RESULTS: Five themes emerged: (1) Dissatisfaction with the professional environment; (2) lack of career paths and opportunities; (3) under-utilisation of pharmacists' knowledge and skills; (4) wanting a change; and (5) staying connected with pharmacy. CONCLUSION: These findings provide insights to the pharmacy sector, previously unexplored in Australia, and informs future pharmacist workforce planning. To retain experienced, mid-career pharmacists in the profession, strategies to increase opportunities for career progression, better use of pharmacists' knowledge and skills and involvement in patient care are required to increase job satisfaction and improve retention rates.

A nationwide study on generic medicines substitution practices of Australian community pharmacists and patient acceptance.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated Australian community pharmacists' rate of generic medicine substitution, patient acceptance of generic substitution and cost-savings achieved for patients from substitution. METHOD: A national stratified sample of 500 Australian pharmacies was randomly selected from different geographical areas. The data of the first 25 original PBS prescription items dispensed on one working day eligible for generic substitution were collected from each pharmacy. RESULTS: Responses were received from 82 pharmacies with a response rate of 16.4%. The pharmacists recommended generics for 96.4% (1461/1515) of the prescription items which were eligible for substitution. The generic substitution recommendation rate in urban (98.7%) and rural areas (98.0%) was significantly higher than remote areas (91.6%). Conversely, patients' acceptance in remote areas (84.5%) was significantly higher than rural (78.6%) and urban areas (73.2%). Patients with chronic diseases demonstrated significantly lower acceptability (72.4%) than patients with acute conditions (81.6%). Through acceptance of substitution, the patients' medicines expenditure reduced by around 21%. CONCLUSION: Australian community pharmacists demonstrated a high rate of recommending generic substitution. However, to optimize the generic medicines utilization, patients' acceptance requires further improvement.