Regional druggists

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Winter 2001 by Lindsay, Wendy

Pharmacy Schools Seek Rx for Shortage

It's flu season in New England and pharmacies are filling more prescriptions than ever-and with less help. The nation's third largest health profession is short about 4,500 professionals, and the shortage is expected to last for several more years. Not surprisingly, pharmacy schools are under pressure to produce more graduates.

How bad is the shortage? The Hartford Courant reports that some Connecticut drugstores have had to close during business hours to comply with state law prohibiting them from operating without a pharmacist on site. When drugstores are open, long waits are typical.

Prescription drug sales totaled nearly $122 billion in 1999, up 18 percent from $103 billion in 1998, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. Prescriptions are projected to swell by 50 percent between 1999 and 2005, while the number of pharmacists grows just 6 percent from its current 129,000. Meanwhile, enrollment in pharmacy schools has been declining. The number of applicants to U.S. pharmacy schools dropped by a third from 1994 to 1999, according to a recent federal study initiated by U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.

Would-be pharmacists can choose from 82 pharmacy schools throughout the United States, which last year awarded 3,876 bachelor's degrees in pharmacy and 3,265 pharmacy doctorates. New England is home to four pharmacy colleges: two private schools, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences and Northeastern University's Bouve College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and two state universities, the University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that the median income for pharmacists in 1998 was about $66,000. But pharmacy is a tough field, restricted to students who are strong in science and mathematics and willing to commit to six years worth of study. (In the 1990s, pharmacy schools initiated a six-year doctor of pharmacy as the new standard, and began phasing out five-year bachelor's programs.) After earning their degrees, prospective pharmacists then must pass a state licensure exam.

At URI's pharmacy school, 2002 is the last year that students will graduate with a bachelor's in pharmacy; starting in 2004, all students will graduate with a new pharmacy doctorate. As institutions transition to doctoral programs during the next few years, they will see the number of pharmacy graduates temporarily decline. UConn's pharmacy school had no graduates this year.

But the future may be brightening for pharmacy. The Boston-based Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences recently established a second campus in Worcester, which offers an intensive, three-year doctoral program for transfer students with some college experience. And the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, is among a handful of U.S. colleges now considering opening pharmacy schools. UConn is in the midst of building a $61 million facility to house its pharmacy school, with expectations that the school will enroll 360 doctor of pharmacy students, 60 graduate students and employ 45 faculty members and 90 researchers. This year, UConn introduced nine-month internships for UConn's pharmacy doctoral candidates who worked in settings ranging from the Pfizer Corp. to Indian Health Services in Alaska. URI's pharmacy school offers interns clinical experience in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Alaska and France.

"People often underestimate the career opportunities in pharmacy," says UConn pharmacy school Dean Michael Gerald. "They envision only pill counters." In fact, pharmacy-related careers encompass a wide range of jobs in regulation, administration, research and development, marketing and health services.

Which is not to say the corner druggist is not in demand. About three out of five pharmacists work in community pharmacies. "Automation is being considered as one way to address the shortage of pharmacists, but pharmacists still need to be on site to dispense medicine and to do consultations with customers," says Joan Lausier, the associate dean of URI's pharmacy school.

The cost of pursuing a pharmacy degree is considerable. Because pharmacy programs are expensive to operate, most impose a surcharge or fee over and above normal tuition. McGovern has suggested special aid programs be used to lure students into the field. Pharmacy students at both URI and UConn are charged the undergraduate tuition rate, rather than the higher graduate rate. But UConn imposes a $10,000 surcharge paid out during the last two years of the six-year program, and URI is considering charging a $500 per semester fee starting in the third year.

As state universities, UConn and URI charge state residents an in-state tuition rate. Out-of-state students pay more than triple that amount, unless they are from another New England state, thanks to the New England Board of Higher Education's Regional Student Program (RSP). The program gives New England residents a tuition break when they pursue academic programs, like pharmacy, that are not offered by public institutions in their home state.