Pharmacist Ranked In 100 Best Jobs In USA In 2022 US News
Being a pharmacist once again ranked in the top 100 "Best Jobs In the USA'' according to the 2022 US News list. Even through times of adversity such as the COVID-19 pandemic that we all experienced, pharmacy is seen as a respected profession worth getting a college degree for and practicing for an entire lifetime. The US News annual list is based on a somewhat complicated set of criteria that takes into account every profession's median annual salary, the projected growth of new jobs over the next ten year period, job stability, current unemployment data, plus various subjective criteria, such as personal life balance, job satisfaction and stress on the job. When looking at the fact that being a pharmacist has been in the US News top 100 "Best Jobs In the USA" every year since the list was first initiated almost two decades ago, being a pharmacist is still being viewed as a lucrative job in the US, as the profession always previously has been in the past.
Specific Pharmacy Job Types or Individualized Practice Areas
Perhaps breaking the profession of pharmacy down further into specific jobs or practice areas should be considered by US News in their future "Best Jobs" lists. Just as doctors and physicians are composed of various additional specialty types (e. g. pediatricians, surgeons, urologists, pediatricians, radiologists, etc.), pharmacists also fall into many various job categories and specialties. Perhaps it is unfair to simply rate the entire profession as a "lump sum" and distinct areas of specialized practice would reveal truer results regarding pharmacists and "best jobs". Most would agree that the subjective criteria used as part of the rankings (personal balance, job satisfaction, growth, flexibility, stress on the job, etc.) will definitely vary in different pharmacy settings and areas. Consider for yourself how the subjective criteria could possibly change dramatically for each of these practice areas:
- Retail pharmacy
- Hospital pharmacy
- Mail-order pharmacy
- IV infusion
- Compounding pharmacy (Sterile & non-sterile)
- Institutional pharmacy
- Clinical pharmacist
- Nuclear pharmacy
Many medical staffing agency experts agree that this vast and ever expanding diversity in pharmacy job types and settings, plus the various specialty skills that a pharmacist can learn and acquire throughout their careers, are some of the major reasons that becoming a pharmacist offers to many students choosing a profession in the medical field. It would simply be interesting to many of us in the profession to see how the various individual types of pharmacy settings and job types compared against each other when matched against each other using the US News ranking criteria.
The Roles Pharmacists Play In Healthcare Are Evolving and Expanding
Historically, pharmacists have always been one of the pillars of the healthcare team and perhaps the cornerstone regarding the dispensing of medications and ensuring patient safety. This is still true today, yet the pharmacist's role is currently evolving and expanding to various new job duties and responsibilities. Once again, many staffing experts agree that many current pharmacy students and graduates find this "role evolution" as presenting various lucrative opportunities that never before existed.
For many years the concept of the “five rights” has been used to describe the steps that all pharmacists practiced as part of their contribution to the healthcare team and their patients' safety and health issue outcomes:
1. The right medication
2. The right dosage
3. The right patient
4. The right time of administration
5. The right route of administration
Yet today's pharmacist's roles have expanded far beyond that. Education, counseling, documentation, and monitoring are now the focus and, at least in the retail community pharmacy settings, the RPh's role has subsequently shifted with an increased emphasis placed on patient interaction. Everyone already knows that the pharmacist is far and away the most accessible healthcare practitioner for the majority of the US public. In a study earlier this year conducted by the NIH it was noted that patients visit their community pharmacies almost twice as often as they visit their doctors or other qualified health practitioners. The study's findings emphasized the accessibility of community pharmacists and highlighted the roles that community pharmacists play in improving patient engagement in all care programs, including prescribing certain medications and giving patient's vaccinations. Another study found that patients visited a retail community pharmacy on average thirty-five (35) times per year, as compared to a primary care physician, which occurs, on average, only four (4) times per year.
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Many college students, recent pharmacy school graduates, plus many others who've been practicing pharmacy for many years, find this increased and frequent contact with patients to be much more attractive than the traditional "count, pour, lick and stick" role of the past. Many realize that as pharmacists, they will be optimally positioned to support public health initiatives and triage concerns. Numerous studies have proven beyond any doubt the positive impact pharmacists have on preventative care such as health screenings and immunizations, opioid management, smoking cessation efforts, plus the management of many chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, liver & renal diseases, and alzheimers, to name just a few.
About Healthcare Consultants Pharmacy Staffing (HCC)
The best solution available to owners and managers of pharmacies nationally when it comes to attracting the right talent to meet their temporary staffing needs is to ally with an experienced pharmacy staffing agency such as Healthcare Consultants Pharmacy Staffing (HCC). For well over three decades now, HCC has been providing temporary staffing for pharmacies in all 50 states, as well as providing relief pharmacy staffing during emergency situations. We work with owners and managers of every type and size of pharmacy business and operation, from the small independent retail community pharmacies to the large national pharmacy groups. We are therefore able to meet almost every individual pharmacy's specific needs when it comes to finding the right temporary staffing talent, including specialty pharmacies.
If you're interested in finding out how HCC can help your pharmacy business meet your specific staffing needs, then call us today at (800) 642-1652, or simply fill out our easy-to-use online form now, and an experienced, in-house HCC staffing expert will get back to you as soon as possible.
