New Catholic pharmacy schools seen helping ease national shortage

cns ^ | August 28, 2009 | Chaz Muth

[NYer]

Julie Gibbons takes a measurement in the lab at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland's School of Pharmacy in Baltimore. The college is one of four U.S. colleges opening new pharmacy schools this fall semester at a time when the nation has a shortage of pharmacists. (CNS/Bob Roller)

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With a projected national shortage of pharmacists, two U.S. Catholic colleges just inaugurated new pharmacy schools to help fill the gap in meeting the country's pharmaceutical needs.

Seventy students at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore began their first day of classes Aug. 24 at the Catholic institution's new School of Pharmacy, the first one to be opened at an all-women's college.

Like the other graduate programs at College of Notre Dame, the new pharmacy school is open to both men and women, and 29 of them are men.

Jesuit-run Regis University in Denver also began classes Aug. 24 for the 50 students in its new School of Pharmacy.

Graduates at both schools will earn a doctor of pharmacy degree.

These are two of four new U.S. pharmacy schools to open this fall semester nationwide, at a time when the nation has a shortage of pharmacists. By 2020 the country is expected to be short about 157,000 pharmacists to meet society's needs, according to Anne Lin, dean of the new pharmacy school at the College of Notre Dame, which is sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

As of 2006, there were approximately 230,000 pharmacists in practices in the U.S., making pharmacy the third-largest health profession in the country behind nurses (2.4 million) and physicians (830,000), said James Owen, director of professional practice for the Washington-based American Pharmacists Association.

All three health professions have reported staffing shortages to meet the demand for services, Owen said.

There isn't a lack of interest in the pharmacy profession, but rather a lack of spots in schools of pharmacy nationwide, Lin said.

The 70 students accepted into College of Notre Dame's first pharmacy class were among 499 applicants, she said.

"We interviewed 189 of those applicants and we have an enormous waiting list," Lin said.

Currently, there are 116 schools of pharmacy in 47 states, according to officials at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, which has its headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

Of the 116, seven are at Catholic institutions of higher education. In addition to the new schools at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and Regis University, the others are at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., St. John's University in Jamaica, N.Y., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

Nationally, there are seven qualified applicants for every opening in the country's pharmacy schools, signaling a clear need for new schools in this discipline, officials at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy said.

The large increase in the number of Americans 55 and older makes the community pharmacist key in managing many seniors' complex prescription regimens, and complicated insurance paperwork consumes greater amounts of staff to meet the consumer need, Lin told Catholic News Service.

However, proposed health care reform legislation could streamline much of the paperwork duplication and ease some of the staffing shortages if it is passed by Congress, Owen said.

Some health care reform proposals also call for the pharmacist of the future to be part of a team of health care providers who offer their expertise in medication when dealing with patient needs, he said.

The team approach would have the pharmacist working directly with patients to improve their use of pharmaceuticals when medication therapy is required, Owen said.

"The initiative of the two institutions responds not only to a national shortage ... but it's also a long-standing tradition for Catholic colleges and universities to focus attention on the human services," said Richard A. Yanikoski, president and CEO of the Washington-based Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

The increase in the number of pharmacy schools is a promising sign, Owen told CNS, adding that he is pleased that more Catholic colleges have begun answering the call to fill the demand for pharmacists.

In 1990 there were only 72 U.S. pharmacy schools, he said, "so, we're definitely moving in the right direction."

For Jeffrey Maurin, 24, of Raritan, N.J., joining the inaugural pharmacy class at the College of Notre Dame will not only satisfy his professional aspirations, but it also will fulfill him as a Catholic.

"As Catholics, we're called by our faith to assist others in our communities," he said. "There's a great need for pharmacists in this country, and I feel like I'm fulfilling that need by enrolling in this program. The fact that it's a Catholic school really attracted me to this program."

Mary Pat Seurkamp, president of the College of Notre Dame, told CNS that since her school is primarily an all-women's college, the new School of Pharmacy will focus its curriculum on women's health issues.

[NYer]

While this is exciting news, the article makes no mention of the conflict of interest problem these future pharmacists will face in dispensing contraception and morning after pills.

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[OldNavyVet]

Why is it that pill pushers need a college degree?

[mel]

Probably see pharmacist not doc with Obama care

[tiki]

I think that is how it is done in Mexico and if the Pharmacist can’t help, they call in a Dr.

[OldNavyVet]

I came down with shingles while in Sants Rosslita, Mexico (on the Baja Peninsula).

The Pharmacy there had an American trained doctor sitting in a side office and he looked me over. He had two drugs for shingles; one cheap and not trecommended, and one expensive.

I paid cash for the expensive one and it worked fine.

In Mexico, the drug stores apparently come with doctors.

My doc in the US later verified it was the right stuff.

[McLynnan]

There is a lot more to it than “pill pushing”. It’s a doctorate program and admissions are highly competitive. Only the best and brightest get into good pharmacy colleges. There is a national shortage of pharmacists and starting salaries are in the low six figures.

[NYer]

Thank you so much for posting that supporting information. Do you have any idea how the program plans to deal with “conscience clauses”?

[Mr. K]

Federal Money going to Catholic School?????

THAT’s ILLEGAL!

[McLynnan]

This varies from state to state and among pharmacies. I remember Washington State was sued by a group of pharmacists over a state law that required them to sell the morning after pill. I also recall reading that there is a fairly new pharmacy in the D.C. suburbs that does not sell birth control products. The large chain pharmacies have their own policies on this issue.