Future of the profession.

[JDiddy]

Hey everybody!

I was wondering what some of you think about where the pharmacy profession might be in a few years from now. As it stands, there seems to be a worldwide shortage of pharmacists all over the world. Do you think that the situation will change and there will be an oversaturation of the market (i.e too many pharmacists)? Pharmacy is the "hot" profession at the moment and many people seem to be choosing it as a career. I've been accepted to a few pharm schools but I am still unsure about the availability and competition for jobs down the line. I (like everybody else) would like a reasonable amount of certainty that I will be able to find a decent paying job without having to look to hard. I guess it all comes down to job security. What do you all think?

There will always be a place for retail pharmacy and I believe that pharmacotherapy will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. But what about clinical pharmacy? I'm leaning more towards clinical as opposed to retail but I wonder if clinical pharmacists will always have a place on the patient-care team in a hospital setting. As techonology advances, the pharmacists' place may be compromised in the hospital setting. Technology may allow doctors to assume the clinical pharmacist's duties hence making them obsolete.

I look forward to your thoughts!

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[jdpharmd?]

But what about clinical pharmacy? I'm leaning more towards clinical as opposed to retail but I wonder if clinical pharmacists will always have a place on the patient-care team in a hospital setting. As techonology advances, the pharmacists' place may be compromised in the hospital setting. Technology may allow doctors to assume the clinical pharmacist's duties hence making them obsolete.

The entire concept of clinical pharmacy is that it's not a "dispensing" task. Clinical pharmacists are hired for their drug expertise, and not for any physical, dispensing functions. I don't see how any amount of technology is going to substitute for a clinical pharmacist's professional judgement. Indeed, retail pharmacy is probably at a greater risk. My pharmacy's volume is down about 10% from last year. It can mainly be attributed to large, mail-order PBMs filling 1000s of scripts per day, using mostly techs and automation, all but completely eliminating the pharmacist's "professional" input and responsibilities.

A quick search of the forum should turn up some useful and relevant old threads pertaining to this topic.