According to this AFL-CIO fact sheet:
http://dpeaflcio.org/programs-publi...s-and-pharmacy-technicians-facts-and-figures/ there are about 287,000 pharmacists in the US, and 60% of them, or ~172,000 work retail. So, if we assume that everybody in APhA is a retail pharmacist, about 17% of retail pharmacists are in APhA. The same report says that ~20% of the pharmacists in the US work hospital, so there are ~60,000 hospital pharmacists in the US. According to their website, ASHP has 40,000 members - so roughly 2/3rds of the hospital pharmacists in the US are members of ASHP.
I encourage APhA to really think hard and ask themselves why these numbers are the way they are and what they should do about them.
Great point. But believe me, APhA continues to focus on bringing in more members. But there is a huge difference between APhA and ASHP. ASHP is an association that is specifically for hospital or institutional pharmacists. Whereas APhA is the umbrella association for all pharmacist. Because we have to represent all pharmacists, we dont have the luxury of being able to cater to just one type of pharmacist. Our market is not just community pharmacists, but all pharmacists, so the percentage of all pharmacists we have as members in very low. This is because most pharmacists belong to the specialty association, like ASHP, ACCP, or AMCP because those associations can have all of their resources go to addressing the needs of one type of pharmacist. But because APhA has to represent all pharm
I don't think there's a single person here who does not care about patients. But it's awfully difficult to show them that when you've been standing on your feet getting screamed at about copays for 10 hours or didn't get a break and your "lunch" was a bag of Cheetos and an energy drink (which you ate standing up and verifying prescriptions).
Also, in case you missed it from my earlier post: How long has it been since you looked for a pharmacist job? This is the third time I've asked and you still have not responded. I will continue to ask until you respond.
Although you feel pharmacists care about their patients, you feel it is tough to show they care given the difficult working working conditions in community pharmacies. I agree that the working conditions make it difficult, however, there are a lot of pharmacists out there dealing with the same working conditions who still show their patients they care. In fact, showing that you care about your patients may be one of the few ways you can get enjoyment from your job.
As for the job search issue, I last looked for a pharmacist job 3 years ago when I got my current job as Associate Dean of Student Affairs. But I know that is not what you are referring to. You were talking about a "real pharmacist" job. I also didn't respond because I knew you were attempting to make a point that I'm out of touch with the current job market, and I didn't feel like getting into helping you understand your flawed logic.
Your logic is flawed because you equate actually having to look for a job recently, with actual knowledge about the difficulties of finding a pharmacist job recently.
But when you say it is difficult to find a job for pharmacists, it is necessary to define what you mean by difficult. Do you mean there are no jobs in your local area, no jobs within 100 miles, no jobs in the state, or no jobs in the entire United States.
If you are saying it is difficult for every pharmacist to find the type of job they want, in the exact city they want, then I would say yes, it would be very difficult to find a job. But I don't think that is the case.
Of the people you know who are out of work, are you really saying they have searched for jobs in other parts of the state they live in and even in other states and they were not able to find a job? If so, then either I am really out of touch with the job market, or they don't do well on their interview.
I can tell you that pharmacies are able to be a lot more selective than they used to be. They no longer have to hire a pharmacist just because they have a pulse and a license. If an applicant demonstrates a poor attitude, or lack of respect, there is no reason to put up with that any longer.
If you are saying the job market is so tight that it is impossible to even get an interview for a job anywhere, then I would be really suspicious of such a statement.