The pharmacy workforce in the U.S. has experienced a radical transformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Between managing patient care and addressing the increased demands of prescription fills, pharmacy teams are under more strain than ever. Staffing shortages, burnout, and traditional hiring models create stress on healthcare facilities of all sizes. As the healthcare industry strives to adapt quickly and efficiently, knowing the process to hire pharmacists and pharmacy technicians has become a key focus of the hiring process for employers.
This blog discusses and explains the staffing challenges currently faced by pharmacies, how the level of demand is shifting between both roles, and consequently, how a modern pharmacist staffing platform can proactively address hiring issues while minimizing long-term stress.
Current shifts in pharmacy staffing since the pandemic
COVID-19 challenged pharmacy operations across the country to extend their scope of practice. Pharmacies were at the frontline as vaccination was rolled out, as was chronic care management and health screening. All these expanded duties added to the burden upon pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, causing burnout, early retirements, and departures of pharmacy staff altogether.
Today, pharmacy recruiters need faster and modern staffing solutions with tech-enabled options to hire pharmacy technicians and pharmacy pharmacists without long delays and excessive agency markups.
Rising demand for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
Pharmacy roles are expanding across the country. Pharmacists take a larger role in direct patient care, and in the same way, when you hire pharmacy technicians, they take on higher-level duties related to inventory control, billing, and patient support. The demand for these expanded roles is on the rise in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and retail pharmacies.
Due to rising patient expectations and workforce shortages, more healthcare facilities and pharmacies are looking to pharmacy technician hiring platforms that can meet their staffing needs fast and transparently.
Key staffing challenges facing pharmacies today
Pharmacy employers are often faced with ongoing workforce shortages and slow hiring processes. This means that delivery of service, regulatory compliance, as well as serious issues related to retention become affected. These issues are not just related to being able to find talent, but rather finding the skilled talent of licensed professional employees who can stand up in a quick timeline. Without good, efficient staffing processes, pharmacies may risk burnout, turnover, and missed service timelines.
Here are some common challenges you are likely familiar with.
- Talent shortages: Limited numbers of licensed pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, especially as identified in rural or remote areas or areas that are not well accessed and/or underserved.
- Lengthy hiring timelines: Using traditional staffing agencies and standard methods for recruitment, like job fairs, advertisements, or posting jobs online, can sometimes take weeks or months to fill urgent and crucial roles.
- Delays from credentialing: Verifying licenses, certificates, and background checks can substantially prolong the onboarding process for new employees if you have partnered with a traditional staffing agency.
- Expensive third-party agencies: Many agencies, especially traditional ones, charge unreasonable fees while providing limited transparency and flexibility when workers are unavailable or do not fit into the healthcare facility’s competencies.
How modern staffing platforms are solving the gap
In order to keep pace with modern-day healthcare staffing, healthcare employers are evolving their hiring strategies using technology. A dedicated pharmacy staffing platform or healthcare platform can provide tech-enabled hiring processes, as well as cost-effective hiring efforts for immediate staffing needs without loss of quality or compliance.
Here are some ways that these platforms are addressing staffing shortages:
- Faster access to verified profiles: Talent matching with pre-screened and licensed professionals.
- Managed end-to-end compliance: Platforms help with the management of credentialing, licensing, and required documentation.
- Transparent pricing: No markups, no hidden fees, as often seen with traditional staffing agencies.
- Integrated tools for scheduling and tracking: Manage shifts, hours, and payroll in one place.
Embracing the future of pharmacy staffing
The days of pharmacy staffing just to fill positions are gone! Today, pharmacy staffing is about creating an engaged and stable workforce that is able to adapt and evolve with the expectations of patients and the changing environment. Implementing smarter platforms today will only set you up for success, agility, scalability, and prevent burnout long into the future.
Hiring will have to become a proactive rather than reactive discipline. Our patients are changing, regulations are changing, and how we hire is changing. As employers begin to think ahead, many will turn to digital and data-driven platforms for staffing in order to remain competitive and compliant. Here are the factors pharmacy employers need to consider to be prepared for the future:
- Healthcare professionals require healthcare staffing platforms: Choose a platform like Medjsquirrels and Medcadee that understands the requirements of pharmacy staffing regulations and regulations with operators.
- Transparency matters: Know the cost before hiring, and don’t have to guess the burden of traditional agency pricing.
- Scalability on demand: On-demand staffing platforms allow you to react and quickly increase (and/or decrease) your hiring ability based on seasonality and/or areas of need, like Emergency Departments.
The pharmacy workforce has been an important component of public health, and demand for such qualified professionals is only going to increase. To stay competitive and handle today’s staffing challenges, pharmacies need to transition from a slow, reactive hiring model to a modern hiring process.
There are several ways pharmacies can embrace modern technology to hire one, is as using a modern licensed staffing platform to hire pharmacists or pharmacy technicians. The process is simple: with a licensed pharmacist or pharmacy tech platform like MedSquirrels, employers can quickly access pre-vetted pharmacists and pharmacy technicians without pricing add-ons, and spend less money to engage quality talent and build a workforce ready for the future needs of pharmacies.
Staffing platforms like MedSquirrels are revolutionizing the recruiting process, with the benefit of flat pricing and quality talent in all states across the USA. The future of pharmacy staffing is flexible, tech-driven, and built for speed.
