Support Staff in Hospital Pharmacy Practice ‐ a Decade of Change

Abstract

Aim: To obtain an overview of the deployment and training of support staff and to compare the results with a similar survey conducted in 1986.Method: Questionnaires were sent to Australian hospitals with a nominal bed capacity of 180 or more. Information sought in the questionnaire included staffing numbers, details of duties undertaken by support staff, and qualifications and training of support staff.Results: The response rate of 89.3% was almost the same as the first survey. In hospitals of 200 beds or more the ratio of support staff to pharmacists has increased in three States, remained static in one and has decreased in the remainder. On a national basis the ratio has increased marginally from 0.50 to 0.53. Overall the ratio of bed numbers to support staff has decreased. The most significant decreases occurred in NSW and Qld where there have been percentage changes greater than 50% compared to the first survey. With respect to training methods for support staff, most pharmacy directors favoured a combination of a formal academic qualification and an internal (structured) training program.Thirty‐four per cent of support staff held an appropriate qualification or were studying towards one. This compared very favourably with the previous survey of 11%.An analysis of the duties performed by support staff was also undertaken. Nationally, the percentage of hospitals employing support staff to carry out the various tasks has increased in each category analysed and there are some duties, such as cytotoxic reconstitution, now being performed, which were not included in the original survey.Conclusion: Compared to the original survey, pharmacy support staff have increased in numbers nationally and the range and extent of duties undertaken has expanded. Whilst the results are very encouraging, the pharmacy profession must continue to recognise and encourage support staff, in particular in the area of training programs.