LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The chain drug stores are having issues with hiring and retaining pharmacists these days, and it eventually could become a problem for many of you when needing to fill a prescription.
According to research conducted by Forbes, pharmacist wages have failed to keep pace with the rate of inflation, but that isn’t the only issue affecting the profession.
“Some of our graduates go into the industry and are involved with drug discovery, or different aspects of research. Some of our graduates go into drug marketing,” said Dr. Frank Romanelli, a professor and associate dean at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.
“We are training students to be able to practice at the top of their license. We are absolutely not targeting or training to a specific pharmacy practice,” Dr. Romanelli explained.
We caught up with Dr. Romanelli before he lectured students on the efficacy, use and potency of the dual antibiotic drug, Bactrim.
“I think pharmacists who are graduating have a myriad of options in front of them,” he said. “Many of the opportunities weren’t available 30, 35, 40 years ago, or even 20 years ago,” he continued.
And Dr. Romanelli has watched his students pursue those other avenues in real time.
“We have definitely seen a shift, probably across the entire profession, towards more pharmacy graduates looking at post-graduate residencies and moving into clinical specialist-type positions,” he added.
The staffing shortage is mostly limited to the chain drug stores at this point, but it’s already beginning to trickle down. Drew Brewer, the owner of Bourbontown Pharmacy in Paris, said he’s definitely feeling the shortage.
“You’re spreading people thinner, and the market comes to bear,” Dr. Romanelli concluded.
And it’s slowly leaving the prescription drug counter a little bare when it comes to staffing pharmacists.
