As local pharmacies and hospitals struggle to staff teams with enough pharmacy technicians, Kavish Choudhary, PharmD, chief pharmacy officer of University of Utah Health, told Becker's five pieces of advice.
The Salt Lake City-based system hosts a pharmacy technician training program that offers free tuition for online students and works to hire the techs after they graduate. Dr. Choudhary said the University of Utah Health has a less than 10 percent turnover rate for this role — which is less than half what other systems and hospitals are reporting.
This low "natural turnover" rate, he said, is thanks to five strategies within and outside the program:
1. Treating workers well through competitive wages and opportunities for growth.
2. Raising awareness through partnerships with local community colleges and high schools — or what Dr. Choudhary calls "embedding the hospital into the fabric of the community."
3. Attending career fairs — even in junior high schools, which can help spark interest among the next generation.
4. Offering positions to students as a pharmacy technician in training, which bolsters your system or hospital as a strong career choice.
5. Promoting the success of former pharmacy technicians or pharmacy tech students.
"If there's not a pathway, create one. If there's not a pool, try to drum up interest and create one," he said. "[Ask yourself,] what sets you apart? How do you get folks interested?"
In about a one-year span, 100 applications were filed, 40 were accepted and 30 were hired from the program, which accepts new students on a rolling basis. Two weeks after a local news outlet reported on the program, 150 applications were filed.
Dr. Choudhary said the success of the program and its graduates inspires him.
"That has been so fulfilling for me personally, just watching what they've done with busting their tails for the last 9, 12 months, look at them now, whether they stay with the university or not."