For example, antibiotics that need to be taken in a specific dosage for 10 days could be packaged that way at the factory, says Phil Schneider of the National Chain Drug Store Association. Insurers could help by standardizing their prescription benefit cards and including on them more of the information pharmacies need to process claims. Those hassles affect hiring. As a selling point, hospitals trying to lure new grads point out that their pharmacists don't have to deal with insurers. They also have more opportunity to work with patients and doctors.
Most graduates choose jobs in retail pharmacies because the pay is better.
Pharmacists spend 4 years earning their degree, plus 2 or more years in college-level studies before pharmacy school. There are 82 colleges of pharmacy in the USA, which last year enrolled 34,481 students and graduated 7,260, says Susan Meyer, senior vice president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Salaries are good, she says, and part-time work also is lucrative. After starting a family, many women pharmacists choose to work part-time. For employers, that's posing some new challenges.