Cultivating talent from within: Exploring pharmacy technician interest in pursuing a PharmD

The pharmacy profession continues to face a shortage of pharmacists, exacerbated by declining pharmacy school graduates, increasing prescription volume, and increased demand for other pharmacy services. The pharmacy technician population works side by side pharmacists every day and represent potential candidates for future pharmacists.

To assess community pharmacy technicians' interest in pursuing a PharmD degree and to identify the barriers preventing them from completing their prepharmacy requirements.

A 20-question survey was sent to 6020 locations in a large, national community pharmacy. Pharmacy technicians with over 1 year of experience were invited to voluntarily complete the survey. The survey and study procedures were reviewed and approved by Advarra IRB (#Pro00055252) and descriptive statistics were calculated to summarize and evaluate the results.

A total of 2476 pharmacy technicians participated in the survey with a demographic profile reflecting the chain and national averages. A large majority of technicians (75%) expressed interest in pursuing a PharmD degree, much higher than the 1% of the technician workforce who currently advance into pharmacy school. For those interested, the key barriers to pursuing their prepharmacy requirements were identified as the financial cost of tuition and fees (86%) and balancing work, family, and school (69%). The factors they identified as most desirable to help them overcome the barriers were a program fully funded by the employer (88%) and access to an online program with flexibility to pursue courses at their own pace (79%).

The findings indicate a substantial interest among pharmacy technicians in pursuing a career as a pharmacist. In exploring strategies to enhance and establish new pathways into pharmacy school, it is essential to identify approaches that reduce the financial burden associated with prerequisite coursework. Additionally, providing flexible and convenient class schedules is critical to supporting this working adult population.