In anticipation of a national shortage of hospital pharmacists, job postings increased by more than 12% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023.
In the first quarter of 2024, more than 1,900 hospital pharmacist postings were published, and a year prior, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy tracked 1,750.
Every quarter, the AACP publishes a pharmacy demand report on pharmacy job postings, including retail, clinical and hospital workplace settings, plus data on pharmacy technician, pharmacy director and other pharmacist occupation postings.
For hospital pharmacists, demand was highest in the South, with 733 open positions. In other regions, there were 477 job postings in the West, 440 in the Midwest and 317 in the Northeast.
There were fewer postings for clinical pharmacists in the beginning of 2024 (4,291) compared to 2023's first quarter (5,269), the report found.
Recently, applications for pharmacy schools and residency programs are on the decline, and hospital pharmacy leaders have told Becker'sBecker's they're preparing for a workforce shortage.