The Push for Safe Staffing What Will Create Lasting Change? Written by Becki Hamill
cist workforce study by the same noted that almost 80% of respondents employed by chain pharma- cies considered the technician shortage as “severe or very severe.” As a result, pharmacies and the consumers they serve have witnessed a slew of problems: med- ication errors, shortened hours, costly penalties, and rising threats to patient safety. With one in six adults in the U.S. taking a prescription medication, the current status quo is not sustainable.
Drastic staffing shortages have raised flags about care outcomes and patient safety across all sectors of healthcare in the past handful of years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacies are no exception to this, and pharmacy staff, especially technicians, are increasingly pushing back on what is now a national crisis in the pharmacy industry. In the first quarter of 2024, the American Associa- tion of Colleges of Pharmacy reported 39,716 open- ings for pharmacy technicians. A national pharma-
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