Abstract
National Pharmacist Workforce Studies (NPWS) have been conducted in the U.S. every five years since 2000. This article describes the online survey methods used for the latest NPWS conducted in 2019 and provides an assessment for nonresponse bias. Three waves of emails containing a link to the online survey were sent to a random sample of about 96,000 pharmacists licensed in the United States. The survey asked about pharmacist employment, work activities, work–life balance, practice characteristics, pharmacist demographics and training. A total of 5467 usable responses were received, for a usable response rate of 5.8%. To assess for nonresponse bias, respondent characteristics were compared to the population of U.S. pharmacists and a benchmark, while a wave analysis compared early and late respondents. The pharmacist sample–population comparison and the benchmark comparison showed that the NPWS respondents had a higher percentage of female pharmacists and a lower proportion of young pharmacists compared to the population of U.S. pharmacists and the benchmark sample. In some contrast, the wave analysis showed that the early respondents had a higher percentage of males and older pharmacists compared to the late respondents. Both the wave analysis and the benchmark comparison showed that the NPWS respondents (and early respondents) had a lower percent of pharmacists with a PharmD degree than did the late respondents and the benchmark group. These differences should be considered when interpreting the findings from the 2019 NPWS.
Highlights
The National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS) has occurred in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2014, and most recently 2019 [1]
The study is overseen by the Pharmacy Workforce Center (PWC) which is comprised of U.S national pharmacist and pharmacy associations
Using the number of pharmacists who clicked on the survey link as a denominator, 64.6% provided a usable response set
Summary
The National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS) has occurred in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2014, and most recently 2019 [1]. The study is overseen by the Pharmacy Workforce Center (PWC) which is comprised of U.S national pharmacist and pharmacy associations. For the 2019 NPWS, there were two main changes from all previous NPWSs, which were mail surveys. This survey was delivered electronically to create survey distribution efficiencies and to allow tailoring of questions to specific subgroups of pharmacists based on demographics, practice settings and work status. Additional targeted sections were added to the core NPWS survey to address emergent topics such as pharmacist burnout, workplace harassment, naloxone dispensing and ambulatory care pharmacy practice. The survey targeted questions specific to pharmacists who are retired and unemployed
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have