REMARKS BY LUCINDA MAINE, PH.D.
Executive Vice President, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
AFPE Press Conference re: $12 Million AFPE Scholarship Campaign to Recruit Pharmacy Faculty
July 29, 2003

• Recognize Senator Reed for the insight he has into the issues of the national shortage of pharmacists (which is well recognized) and the less well recognized shortage of pharmacy faculty; the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy appreciates the opportunity to work with you on these issues.

• I have the opportunity today to reveal the results of new research conducted over the past academic year that examined vacancy information in the teaching ranks of our nation’s schools of pharmacy. AACP is the organization that represents both the institutions – 84 of them when we did this research – and the people, the professors, who prepare today’s and tomorrow’s practicing pharmacists. It was the first time our organization conducted this particular piece of institutional research and analysis.

• First, let me establish a context for why your readers should even care about the issue of a national shortage of teachers of pharmacy – in the realm of public policy that in the last two months has yielded legislation providing some prescription coverage for a Medicare program that “survived” 40 years without any and just last week authorized importation of medications from other countries, where does this issue fit in?

• I often like to ask audiences how many of you can recall an incident when you, a loved one such as an aging parent, or just an acquaintance experienced a problem with a medicine? Maybe it was a dose too high, two drugs that shouldn’t be used in combination. Maybe it was an older person who simply had so many prescriptions they became confused and couldn’t keep them straight. Typically the majority of my audience gives me the positive head nod indicating that they personally have a story. Believe it or not, having an adequate number of well-trained pharmacy faculty is key to addressing just these types of issues and problems.

• In the 1990’s pharmacy decided to change its education from a B.S. degree to a professional doctoral degree program, similar to medicine and dentistry. This was more than self-aggrandizement; pharmacy’s leaders realized that medication use was becoming much more complex and central to quality health care. New medicines, powerful ones, became available to prevent and treat diseases that previously had no cure or remedy. Care shifted from being hospital centered to being largely delivered and managed on an out-patient basis, with medication use central to that change. Pharmacists trained in these Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs are increasingly recognized as medication use experts, working closely with prescribers and patients to identify and solve drug use problems and help people use medications well. The early pioneers of this change in professional responsibility were largely professors at our nation’s colleges of pharmacy.

• Over the past 5 years, as Kurt Proctor will share, first the profession and now public and private decision-makers have recognized that the demand for pharmacists has sharply outpaced the available supply. It’s not simply too many prescriptions to fill, although certainly there are lots of them and more to come with the aging of the population and increased reliance on medications. Pharmacists in all settings are being called upon to offer many new services related to medication management. Our degree change decision was “just in time”.

• How can only 84 schools of pharmacy keep pace with rapidly increasing demand? First, existing schools have done all they can over the last several years to increase enrollments, on average between 10 and 20 percent although in some cases even more dramatically. We’ve also seen a fairly rapid increase in the numbers of schools. Our accrediting agency now recognizes 89 U.S. pharmacy programs and AACP’s membership increased to 89 just last week. Considering that we only had 74 schools of pharmacy when I graduated in 1980 with my B.S. in Pharmacy I think you can appreciate the remarkable nature of that growth in degree granting programs.

• Which brings me to the data about faculty vacancies and the shortage of qualified individuals to teach in our 89 programs. How do we find people to teach more pharmacy students and produce the next generation of patient-centered pharmacy practitioners?
  • AACP conducted this research in December 2002 to determine the number of current vacancies in faculty ranks and the number of lost positions (lost due to many factors but especially the challenging fiscal times facing most states and higher education)
  • 67 of our 84 current members responded to the survey
  • 9 out of 10 had currently vacant positions
  • a total of 417 positions were vacant, including 77 positions that had been “lost” – unfilled positions become vulnerable in these challenging times
  • this is an average of 6 positions per institution

• What types of vacancies are included in this mix?
  • Half were in the area of clinical or pharmacy practice faculty
  • About 40% were in the other pharmaceutical sciences
  • About 8 percent were in our administrative ranks
  • Only 4-5 % were in research-only positions
  • 1/3rd of the openings were new positions, reflecting the fact that new schools and expanding enrollments require new faculty lines

• How long had positions been vacant?
  • 60% for less than 6 months – this is the good news (new, active searches)
  • another 10% for 7 to 12 months
  • the startling data are that 30% of positions had been vacant for more than a year indicating failed searches without adequate numbers of qualified people to fill our currently vacant faculty positions

• Why were our positions vacant? Brain drain is the simple answer
  • Our faculty are highly educated and bright people that other employers find quite attractive
  • 37% found positions in industry, government or the private sector
  • 25% went to fill positions at other schools of pharmacy
  • 20% entered retirement

• Timeliness of the AFPE campaign and Pharmacy Education Aid Act
  • At a time when the demand for pharmacists has never been stronger we can not let our schools’ ability to increase the pool of clinically trained pharmaceutical care providers be compromised by an inadequate number of faculty to prepare them
  • Federal programs that make pharmacy more accessible and faculty positions more competitive are essential, especially with state budgets in crisis
  • A private sector initiative is also critically important and AFPE’s programs aim to
    • Help today’s students experience the excitement of original research
    • Make graduate school – essential preparation for new faculty – more affordable
    • Help new faculty initiate the research which helps them become successful and productive faculty and remain in academia·
  • With 50 to 60 Baby Boomer on the edge of older age, the time is now to act to insure that their medication use is safe, rational and well managed by a knowledgeable and caring pharmacist.