PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR YOUNG PHARMACISTS: HITS AND MISSES IN REIMAGINING PHARMACY PRACTICE

Who is a pharmacist and what do they do or not do? Even I can’t provide a satisfactory answer to that question. Pharmacists have been characterized as makers of medicine, pill pushes, pill counters and bottle labelers, as managers and as entrepreneurs. With all this the professional identity of pharmacists is ambiguous, problematic and confused (Ahmer et al, 2022). Having a proper professional identity provides a sense of worth, belonging and purpose. The practice is more confusing for young pharmacists entering into the profession. Life post internship is equally as ambiguous as the view of the profession.

These challenges facing pharmacists today stem from under regulation of the profession, inadequate mentorship for the young pharmacists and widespread unemployment of pharmacists. But that issue is a “murima” and should be approached with caution. Pharmacists employed in the private sector lack harmonized working hours ranging from 10-15 hours a day for at least 6 days a week. This amounts to 60-90 hours a week, far exceeding WHO’s recommended 35 to 40 hours, resulting in severe burnout and difficulty in maintaining a healthy work life balance (WHO, 2021)

According to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, more than 80% of the pharmacists are based in Nairobi County. The failure to decentralize the profession has led to massive unemployment and a wave of urban migration, as many pharmacists move to the city in search of jobs. This has in turn created a large labour pool, which employers are exploiting leading to high rates of underemployment with low wages.

Lack of access to capital has been a constant bottleneck to pharmacists as they get into their careers. Many will cite that pharmacists are well remunerated during internship without considering that they have lives to start, “black tax” to pay and so much more. It is hard to get into the entrepreneurial space as a pharmacist without readily available avenues for you to access capital on credit with a grace period and favorable interest rates.

The failure of higher learning institutions to keep up with emerging trends in the market is a bit of a challenge. Pharmacists who venture outside conventional pharmacy practice often find it challenging to gain the necessary knowledge and skills for their chosen field. For pharmacists getting into research, supply chain and logistics need additional accreditation or take a master’s degree while it is well within the scope of a pharmacists practice.

All is not lost though. If there was a good time to be a pharmacist, it would be now. With expanded roles and responsibilities, a pharmacist can venture into different fields. Medication therapy management is gaining significant traction, particularly for patients with chronic conditions e.g., NCDs (Mohammed, 2018). Immunization services and family planning services can now be offered in retail pharmacies opening new frontiers in the practice of pharmacy. Moreover, technology is further revolutionizing the field. E-pharmacy is rapidly growing with a number of well-established pharmacies getting into the space. Online medicine market is growing at an exponential rate (Fatima et al, 2019). Telepharmacy, although still in its infancy, holds great potential, beyond the occasional phone call from relatives seeking advice on long-standing ailments. Webinars and online classes are now readily available fostering opportunities for professional development and enabling pharmacists to learn new skills that align with market needs. This access to knowledge helps smoothen entry into various fields, allowing pharmacists to tailor their qualifications to meet the needs of the job market.

References

Mohammed, K. G. (2018). Role of pharmacists in combating non-communicable diseases (ncds): a response to the outcomes of the 71st world health assembly of who held in may 2018. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327824599

Ahmer Raza, M., Aziz, S., Noreen, M., Anjum, I., & Raza, S. M. (2022). A Portrait of the Pharmacy Profession Globally: Pharmacist Universal Professional Identity and Establishment of Global Pharmacy Council. Innovations in pharmacy, 13(1), 10.24926/iip.v13i1.4502. https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v13i1.4502

Fatima, S., Malpani, R., Sodhi, S., & Ghosh, A. (2019). E-buying of medicines: trends and factors influencing online pharmacy. International Journal of Marketing and Business Communication, 8(3),01: https://www.i-scholar.in/index.php/ijmbc/article/view/195575

WHO-ILO 2021 guidelines:https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2021-long-working-hours- increasing-deaths-from-heart-disease-and-stroke-who-ilo