All health-care sectors are facing significant staff shortages, but it’s a major problem in the pharmaceutical industry, whether in pharmacies or hospitals, says the president of the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec (OPQ).
In an interview with The Canadian Press on Friday, Jean-François Desgagné expressed his concerns about the shortage in the pharmacy professions but was also optimistic.
Among other things, Desgagné is encouraged by the arrival this year of the first cohorts of pharmacy technicians. This new program will be offered in 10 CEGEPs across the province in the fall of 2021.
However, he does not deny that the situation is critical. According to the OPQ president, there is currently a shortage of at least one pharmacist per pharmacy in Quebec, and in small hospitals, there is a shortage of approximately three, and in large hospitals, five to nine.
“Roughly speaking, Quebec is short 3,000 pharmacists,” he sums up.
“Pharmacists are getting organized, we’re organizational animals, but you have to realize that you can’t stretch a rubber band forever,” Desgagné said.
The results of the latest workforce survey conducted by the Association des pharmaciens des établissements de santé du Québec (APES) support this view. The survey showed that 62 per cent of pharmacists needed to provide pharmaceutical care in emergency departments were unmet, and around 15 per cent in oncology, where treatments are essential to the survival of certain patients.
In inpatient intensive care and coronary care units, 50 per cent of the need for pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical care goes unmet.
In renal dialysis, there are 13 pharmacists employed out of 73 required, barely meeting 18 per cent of needs, while dialysis patients are particularly vulnerable to medication due to the diminished filtration capacity of the kidneys
In March, the APES estimated that 235 additional pharmacists would be needed in these four sectors alone.
“Staffing concerns are the major issue in the profession at present, as in many other professions … There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t hear about it in the media, but let’s just say that in pharmacy, it’s the major concern,” Desgagné said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on may 14, 2024.
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