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Bend it like Becker

TL;DR - There will be higher demands for hospital pharmacists in the coming years.

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) produces a quarterly pharmacy demand report (PDR) measuring pharmacist demand in the US. The latest report, encompassing the first three quarters of 2023, indicates 60,000+ pharmacist jobs posted this year. After retail pharmacy positions, the next two highest job postings were for Clinical Pharmacist and Hospital Pharmacist positions, respectively.

Becker’s Hospital Review analyzed the PDR and reports a “15% higher demand for hospital pharmacists so far in 2023”. This aligns with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ predictions for pharmacists job outlook. The BLS expects the demand to “increase for pharmacists in some healthcare settings, such as hospitals and clinics”. Moreover, the BLS expects fewer retail/community pharmacy jobs “as the industry consolidates and more people fill their prescriptions online or by mail”.

Pharmacist Compensation has collected data from 850+ hospital pharmacists in 2023. Overall, the participants reported median wages of $136,916 and 6.9 out of 10 on job satisfaction. This is a step up compared to retail pharmacists reporting median wages of $135,000 and 5.7 on job satisfaction.

A more detailed breakdown of hospital wages and job satisfaction is below:

Think a residency is required? Think again. Pharmacist Compensation data shows a whopping 50.1% of hospital participants indicate they did not complete a residency. The remaining participants were mostly PGY1 trained (~33%) versus PGY2 (~17%).

So what’s the takeaway? Right now is a good time to land your first role within a hospital setting or explore a new environment with a different company.

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Additional Resources:

-Financial planning from a former pharmacist