Community Pharmacy Chain Research Articles

Financial Analysis Ratios Utilized in Community Pharmacies

A survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of independent and chain community pharmacies in Nebraska that perform ratio analysis on financial statements. Surveys were returned by 154 of 273 (56.4%) randomly selected community pharmacies throughout Nebraska. Findings indicate that community pharmacies do perform ratio analysis on financial statements although to varying degrees. The ratio most frequently used by community pharmacies was the Gross Margin Percentage (70.9%). Independent community pharmacies reported average ratio usage of 47.7% whereas chain community pharmacies reported average ratio usage of 32.0%. Adjustments in operations (based on ratio analysis) generally provided positive results for the majority of respondents.

Factors affecting practice-area choices by pharmacy students in the Midwest

The results of a survey to determine the first-choice practice intentions of midwestern pharmacy students and to describe and quantify the factors affecting their decisions are reported. Questionnaires were sent to 12 pharmacy schools in American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy District IV and distributed during November 1988 to January 1989. The questionnaires were given to entry-level pharmacy students who were in their final year of study. The students were asked to indicate their preferred practice setting upon graduation and to rate the importance of 21 factors that a pharmacist might consider when selecting a first position. A total of 715 usable responses were received (response rate, 6.75%). OF the respondents, 83.2% were enrolled in B.S. degree programs and 16.8% in entry-level Pharm.D. degree programs. The distribution of first choices of a practice area was as follows: chain community pharmacy, 33.1%; hospital pharmacy, 27.6%; independent community pharmacy, 12.4%; industry, 8.4%; "other," 5.5%; ambulatory-care clinic, 5.2%; graduate school, 3.8%; department store, discount store, or grocery store, 1.7%; home health care, 1.5%; and nursing home, 0.8%. The three factors ranked as most important in affecting the choice of a practice area were personal fulfillment, salary, and the opportunity to use one's abilities and education. The ranking of the factors varied depending on the practice area chosen. Midwestern pharmacy students were most interested in chain community and hospital pharmacy practice settings. Retail-oriented students placed salary concerns first, whereas clinically oriented students emphasized personal fulfillment. These findings have implications for recruitment strategies.

Burnout Among Pharmacists

A nationwide mail survey of a random sample of the American Pharmaceutical Association membership was conducted to study the degree of burnout among pharmacists and to identify individual and job characteristics that make a pharmacist susceptible to burnout. Analysis of 1,261 returned questionnaires (57.1% response rate) revealed moderate levels of burnout among pharmacists. The study found that the typical pharmacist who reported the highest level of burnout was a woman less than 40 years old, who works in a chain community pharmacy setting, and who has been in practice and in the same job for less than 10 years. Further work is needed to identify other personal and practice conditions that make pharmacists susceptible to burnout. In the meantime, employees are encouraged to establish interpersonal communications designed to identify and deal with signs of burnout.

Survey of Pharmacy Directors' Experience with Staff Vacancies and Recruitment

Hospital pharmacy directors were surveyed in September 1987 about staff pharmacist turnover, recruitment, and retention. Questionnaires were mailed to pharmacy directors at 541 hospitals in the United States. Three hundred thirty-nine questionnaires were returned (62.7% usable response rate); more than 50% of the questionnaires sent to each geographic region were completed. Only 129 respondents reported difficulty filling vacant staff pharmacist positions within the past 12 months, although 320 believed there is a pharmacist shortage. Seventy-eight reported having positions that remained unfilled for three to six months. For more than 90% of the vacant positions, two-thirds of the duties were in drug distribution. Five hundred thirty-three pharmacists were reported to have left their positions in the past 12 months; the directors said salary and working hours were the reasons most often given, and that 47.5% left to work at other hospitals and 13.1% at chain community pharmacies. National advertisements and the use of professional recruitment agencies were the recruitment methods most frequently mentioned, and salary increases, recognition through feedback from management, and participation in management decisions were the methods most commonly mentioned for retaining pharmacists. Salary was the most frequently reported reason for hospital pharmacist turnover, and nearly half of the pharmacists leaving their positions went to other hospitals.

Professional attitudes of Ohio pharmacists working in three practice settings

The attitudes of pharmacists in three practice settings toward a set of attributes associated with professionalism were studied. A questionnaire that included the 40-item Shack and Hepler professionalism instrument was mailed to 1999 pharmacists in Ohio. Responses from 617 pharmacists who worked in hospital, independent community, or chain community pharmacy practice were used. There were significant differences between the responses of pharmacists who worked in the different practice settings (multivariate analysis of variance, p less than 0.01). However, the practice setting accounted for less than 10% of the variance in the responses. Statistically significant differences were also observed when the pharmacists were grouped according to sex, years since graduation, degree, and job position; however, less than 8% of the variance in the responses could be explained by the demographic variables. There did not appear to be any practical differences in beliefs about professional attributes among pharmacists working in hospital, independent community, and chain community practice settings.