M ost of Alabama as well as the United States is facing a serious shortage of pharmacists.
Fortunately for the people of our state and the Gulf Coast, an exciting new collaboration has been created between Auburn University and the University of South Alabama to alleviate this shortage by increasing the number of pharmacy school graduates and enhancing the availability of trained pharmacists.
If you live in Mobile or Baldwin counties, the shortage of pharmacists may have
touched you when you noticed an unusually long wait to have a prescription filled. Or perhaps your favorite pharmacy has had to reduce its hours because of a lack of staff.
Maybe you felt the shortage when, due to a hectic pace in your drugstore, you weren't able to adequately discuss your medications with your pharmacist.
If you live in a small town or rural area in Alabama, your likelihood of having experienced one or more of these scenarios is dramatically higher. Your local pharmacy may have even gone out of business due to an inability to hire a licensed pharmacist.
The U.S. Bureau of Health Professions puts it plainly: "There has been an unprecedented demand for pharmacists which has not been met by current supply."
Why is there a shortage of pharmacists? The good news is that many of the reasons reflect positive trends.
--Pharmaceutical research is bringing new and better medications to the market, and people have unprecedented health care options.
--We are living longer and our quality of life is improving.
--Health care is more convenient. Community pharmacies and drugstore chains are expanding their hours to meet the needs of the modern consumer.
--Our hospitals and health care institutions are increasingly involving pharmacists in total patient care.
These are all positive developments, but they pose a challenge. If we are to adequately support continued improvement in our nation's health care, we must educate far more pharmacists than we educate at present.
While retail pharmacists are often the most visible to the consumer, there is much more to the equation. Professional pharmacists are vital members of the medical team in our nation's hospitals and community clinics.
These staff pharmacists are critical in the delivery of medication and for providing consultation, expertise and quality control. And as our hospitals get more sophisticated and more adept at saving and improving lives, the demand for pharmacists expands as well.
Pharmacists are also needed in universities and research laboratories where students are being taught and tomorrow's miracle drugs are being developed and tested.
When you combine the expanding demand for pharmacists with the need for pharmacy professionals in hospitals, other health care institutions, education and the research field, you have a much clearer picture of our national shortage of professional pharmacists.
Nationally, every type of organization or business that depends on pharmacy professionals is having difficulty filling vacancies. The number of pharmacy jobs open today is among the highest in history.
Salaries for new doctor of pharmacy graduates are in the $90,000-per-year range and above.
In fact, nationally there is one pharmacist for every 1,050 people, a ratio that has been widely described as a "shortage." Looking more closely at Alabama reveals the true picture in our state.
In Mobile and Baldwin counties, there is one pharmacist for every 1,200 people. And if you look at Alabama's rural areas, you have one pharmacist for every 1,500 people, a ratio 40 percent below the national average.
The U.S. Bureau of Health Professions sees no end to this trend and envisions even greater demand for pharmacists in the future. The only real solution, according to the bureau, is to expand the number of pharmacy professionals.
This is where the new program between Auburn University and the University of South Alabama comes in.
For many years, Auburn University has served as the only public university in Alabama offering the doctor of pharmacy degree required for professional licensure. Over the years, Auburn graduates have taken their place in the pharmacy profession in the state and well beyond.
The University of South Alabama, through its academic programs in medicine, nursing and allied health professions, has educated numerous physicians and health care professionals. It also has served as one of the largest providers of health care on the upper Gulf Coast through its physicians, hospitals and the Mitchell Cancer Institute.
Playing on the strengths of both institutions, Auburn and USA have joined forces to create a doctor of pharmacy degree program on the USA campus in Mobile. The program begins in fall 2007.
Graduates of the program in Mobile will receive their degrees from the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy at the University of South Alabama.
Students are eligible to apply for this four-year graduate program upon completing undergraduate studies in an appropriate pre-pharmacy or related health professions field, which are already offered at both institutions.
In a nutshell, we believe this agreement between Auburn and USA is the right thing to do for the people of Alabama. Both of our institutions are committed to working together to improve pharmacy care, especially in the southern part of the state, while making efficient use of state funds.
Student pharmacists will receive the same high-quality education in Mobile as at Auburn, and residents of Mobile will soon see an increase in the number of well-educated, highly competent pharmacy graduates serving all of South Alabama.
Under the new arrangement between the two universities, Auburn's pharmacy school will establish a satellite program in facilities at the USA Health Services Building. It will staff and administer the program with AU faculty, and establish the same admission requirements and academic criteria as the Harrison School of Pharmacy on the Auburn campus.
AU will administer the admission process to the pharmacy program, and a USA faculty member is expected to serve on the AU Harrison School's admission committee.
In some cases, AU pharmacy faculty will teach USA medical students and USA medical faculty will teach AU pharmacy students. USA will extend clinical pharmacy appointments to AU pharmacy faculty involved in education programs for student physicians, medical residents and other health care students.
Auburn, in turn, will extend affiliate faculty appointments to USA faculty who participate in the Harrison School of Pharmacy program.
Students in all of these health-related programs will benefit from "real world" experience gained at USA's hospitals and other medical facilities.
The new program's goal is to quickly move to help reduce the shortage of well-trained, licensed pharmacists throughout the state, but particularly in the Mobile area and along the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle to the Biloxi area and beyond.
By immediately increasing the number of qualified students accepted into the doctor of pharmacy program, as well as making this program more geographically accessible to bright young men and women in the region, we will help alleviate the shortage of professional pharmacists serving the public.
This exciting partnership between Auburn University and the University of South Alabama will result in improved health care and longer, healthier lives for the people of Alabama and the Gulf Coast.
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