Hospitals across the country are facing pharmacist shortages, a situation that has worsened amid the broader workforce crisis in the healthcare system. The pharmacist staffing shortfall is having a negative impact on patient care, with hospitals facing risks that include delayed medication management, longer patient wait times, breaches of regulatory compliance, and an increased burden on interdisciplinary teams.
Unlike other healthcare staffing shortages, a pharmacist shortage is at the center of patient management and treatment delivery, as pharmacists hold a pivotal position in coordinating therapies safely and effectively.
Thus, in addition to being an issue of HR staffing or recruiting, a pharmacist shortage is ultimately a patient safety issue. For health system leaders, it will be necessary to implement proactive and scalable solutions to address this crisis and strike a balance between the workforce and standards of care for patients.
Understanding the scale of pharmacist shortages
The pharmacist shortages are fueled by a confluence of workforce and demographic pressures that span across the health system. Demand for pharmacists continues to grow as they expand into clinical roles, such as the provision and administration of immunizations and the management of chronic diseases.
In parallel, the pharmacist workforce continues to age, turnover remains high, and there is a lack of pharmacy graduates pursuing hospital pharmacy careers after graduation. When crucial roles are not staffed, hospitals experience operational impediments that include delayed workflows, compliance issues, and increased risks of medication errors.
Ultimately, operational gaps affect medication safety in hospitals, which relies on qualified pharmacists being present.
- Hospitals often incur additional costs by using temporary or traveling pharmacy staff, which is unsustainable.
- Patients are experiencing prolonged wait times for much-needed therapies, which ultimately have an adverse effect on clinical outcomes.
Strategies to support workforce retention and engagement
A highly effective strategy to mitigate pharmacist shortages would be through retention strategies that support existing personnel. Competitive salary frameworks, acknowledgment programs, and relevant professional development opportunities can help pharmacists feel valued and engaged in their roles.
Hospitals can further support engagement through advanced practice certification, clinical leadership roles, and mentorship programs, which can help manage their turnover. Workload management is also important, and easy-to-change scheduling and wellness resources can help mitigate burnout.
Hospitals can improve the experience of their current workforce by focusing on the areas mentioned below, while also saving costs by not having to hire pharmacist replacements from the beginning.
- Programs that acknowledge and solicit feedback are effective in retention and promoting long-term loyalty.
- Career or professional ladders also demonstrate a hospital’s commitment to an employee’s professional development, which significantly contributes to retention efforts.
Utilizing technology to enhance patient safety
Technology can help hospitals close the gap created by pharmacist shortages while keeping focus on patient safety. Automated dispensing cabinets, barcode check methods, and AI-powered decision support tools mitigate the risk of medication errors while supporting workflow reliability.
With automation of dispensing activities and compliance reporting tasks, pharmacists can focus on higher-value clinical activities such as patient conversations and optimizing therapy. By using this digital format, hospitals can reduce manual labor and increase efficiency.
Additionally, this technology-assisted approach can strengthen pharmacist staffing strategies because pharmacists can have a greater impact on patients with fewer staff.
- Digital solutions result in faster regulatory reporting, resulting in lower workloads for clinical teams.
- Automation reduces waste through effective inventory management programs, ensuring that drugs are readily available for patient use.
Long-term workforce planning in pharmacy
To resolve pharmacist shortages, it is necessary to have a strategic workforce plan that enables long-term talent pipelines. For example, hospitals can partner with pharmacy schools through residency programs or internship tracks that can move new graduates into clinical practice.
Hospitals can also utilize their staffing partners as a stopgap measure during periods of acute demand to ensure workforce continuity. Hospitals may also increase the role of pharmacy technicians by training and supporting them to handle more aspects while under the supervision of a pharmacist.
This approach to strategic workforce restoration leads to stable pharmacy staffing and ongoing consistency in medication safety in hospitals.
- Hospitals rarely ask their staff to engage in cross-training to build collaborative, interprofessional processes.
- Leaders may want to hire pharmacy technician staff to complement pharmacists and eliminate processing bottlenecks around their workload.
Strengthening pharmacy technician staffing for the Future
When trying to fill critical roles, recruiters often begin recruiting via in-house referrals or free job boards. These methods sometimes yield a start; however, they often end with little to no results, especially in the current context of healthcare staffing shortages.
Traditional staffing agencies are another widely used option, and while they have the ability to connect hospitals with talent, this approach has significant limitations. Agencies often come with high placement fees, lengthy hiring times, and candidate pools that are frequently limited.
For urgent needs or when filling multiple positions, agencies may be less useful as vacancies remain open for weeks, which certainly does not help hospitals already dealing with pharmacist shortages.
The staffing model of the future will be through technology like MedSquirrels, which reimagines the way healthcare talent is sourced and placed. Utilizing sophisticated matching technology and digital efficiency, it offers a more timely and cost-effective approach to meeting future workforce needs.
Unlike agencies, MedSquirrels provides easy and transparent pricing through subscription-style recruitment plans that significantly reduce overall hiring costs. MedSquirrels also strengthens your facility when you need pharmacy staffing solutions by providing hospitals with access to a large pool of pre-screened talent, thereby reducing reliance on temporary fixes when hiring pharmacy technician staff.
- MedSquirrels provides flexible, cost-effective recruitment plans that align with hospital budgets.
- Its digital tools allow hospitals to swiftly source, screen, and ensure compliance, helping reduce absenteeism and vacancies.
- With its scalability, the platform enables easier adaptation to fluctuating patient volumes and unpredictable staffing needs.
For the future of workforce planning, hospitals must leverage innovative yet practical solutions. Companies like MedSquirrels are leading the charge, advancing a new frontier of facilities that enhance patient safety and ensure appropriate staffing without the limitations of traditional models.
For successful future planning, healthcare executives will need to collaborate with futuristic staffing platforms that provide reliability, affordability, and speed
