Factors influencing pharmacists' selection of their first practice setting

Factors that influenced the choice of initial practice setting among pharmacists who had completed the majority of their experiential training in a hospital setting were determined. A questionnaire was mailed to all eligible pharmacists who successfully completed the Ohio pharmacist licensure examination in June or September 1987. Respondents were asked to (1) provide demographic data, (2) rate the importance of 23 factors that a pharmacist might consider when choosing a practice site, and (3) rate the desirability of a pharmacist position in their major hospital internship site, as well as positions they had considered in other hospitals and in community pharmacies. The predictive accuracy of four decision-making models--the weighted compensatory choice model, the unweighted compensatory choice model, the lexicographic model, and the conjunctive model--also was determined. Of 105 pharmacists surveyed, 53 returned usable questionnaires. Twenty-five had chosen to practice in hospital settings, and 28 had chosen community settings. The factor "is personally rewarding" was mentioned most often by hospital and community pharmacists as the factor that was most important when choosing their first position. The lexicographic model, which postulates that a pharmacist will choose the practice site with the highest performance rating for the most important factor, was the most accurate predictor of respondents' initial practice sites. Pharmacists' perception of how practice sites would rate in terms of the single job-related factor most important to them was the best predictor of whether they chose hospital or community practice initially and whether they chose to work in the hospital in which they served their internship, another hospital, or a community pharmacy.