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. What is known about the topic? A well trained and sufficient workforce is an essential requirement if the objectives of Australia’s healthcare reform agenda are to be met. For the pharmacy profession, a change in practice profile of pharmacists from a product supply focus to a patient care focus is also required. Recent workforce studies have used pharmacist registration data to model the supply of pharmacists. What does this paper add? This paper reports on a survey of registered pharmacists to more closely examine the available pharmacist workforce. The insights into the current employment status and practice profile of pharmacists provide an understanding of the available clinical pharmacist workforce. What are the implications for practitioners? Previous workforce modelling may seriously overestimate the ‘available’ pharmacist workforce to meet the needs of the community as the health reform agenda rolls out. Strategies are needed to retain pharmacists within the pharmacy profession, and to attract and retain pharmacists in clinical roles.