I got accepted, but I am a bit worried about the career prospects though. I was reading through the web and there seem to be government cuts and stuff and also there is over saturation. Can some-one please explain this... thanks!
It's a lot more complicated than simple "over-saturation". With our ever-growing population (and increased health knowledge), the demand for drugs will always be there. In fact, there's probably enough demand to accommodate almost all the new graduates. Of course, people are saying Pharmacy Technicians able to do most of what pharmacists can do at a lower salary, and are taking up a lot of the jobs that would've been for pharmacists a decade ago. That's true, but that's not the whole reason why the job outlook isn't so well.
In Canada, we run on a public health care model. This means the government subsidizes most of the prescription drugs we buy. Although you may not buy a lot of prescription drugs, people at an older age depend on so many of these drugs regularly, and it's a lot for the government to pay for. Now, moving along to the pharmacies itself. They make money by stocking generic brand name drugs (Simple example: Rexall's ibuprofen vs Advil). These generic companies will then give a rebate to the pharmacies once they sell it as an incentive (eg. 50%) over selling brand name drugs.
So what does the government do in this case to cut back on spendings? They cut a deal with drug companies and lower the price of generic brand name drugs, especially the common 6 that account for 1/5 of all drug sales (eg. amlodipine, atorvastatin, ramipril...). Now the government doesn't have to spend as much money on drugs (since they subsidize the amount that consumers pay). But how do they make it up to the drug companies? They then lower the rebate percentages (eg. down to 20%) so the drug companies don't lose as much money. So, everyone wins except for pharmacy owners. Because of this harsh decrease in revenue, small pharmacies are out competed by large ones like Shoppers Drug Mart. Large companies then don't see the benefits in opening another pharmacy as it will not generate as much revenue. This leads to staff cuts, work hour cuts, and halts the expansion of more pharmacies in the community.
Now, it sounds pretty bad, but the night is darkest before the dawn (yes I'm a batman fan). Pharmacy as a profession is evolving rapidly (see Blueprint for Pharmacy). Pharmacists are and will be given a much larger role in health care (physical assessments, medication reviews, immunizations, and limited prescribing rights) simply because dispensing drugs just doesn't cut it. So, good news is that the field is evolving very rapidly. Who knows, by the time we graduate, maybe the pharmacy as a profession will be completely different.
As of now, don't worry about it. No one can predict the future, and the present isn't necessarily a representation of the future. Do what you can, work hard, make connections, and learn about the field as much as you can. Start finding a part time job in large pharmacies like Shoppers and when you graduate you'll have a much higher chance of being hired as a pharmacist than other people.
Cheers!
for UBC's PHARMACY CLASS OF 2017.
