Human Resource Planning for the Pharmaceutical Sector

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Human Resource Planning for the Pharmaceutical
Sector

• Richard Laing (BUSPH)
• Brenda Waning (MCP)

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Session Overview

• What is HR Planning?
• The numbers game
• Balance between pharmacists and pharmacist
  technicians
• Curricula issues

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What is HR Planning?

• Involves three key key components

Numbers
Training
Personnel Management
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Pharmacy service gap - nearly a 100-fold
variation in pharmacists per 100,000 population
Europe, N. America (15 to 94 per 100,000)
Asia (1 to 7 per 100,000)
Pharmacists per 100,000 population
Africa (0.1 to 3 per 100,000)
Source WHO/HST/GSP/94.1 (1994)
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The Numbers Game - Estimating Future Needs
Population to be served
Health demands
Health Needs
Future Population
Future Facilities
FutureActivities
HR ActivityRatio
HR Population Ratios
HR Facility Ratio
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Human Resources - Projections Steps

• 1. Select staff to be projected
• 2. Identify variables eg training output,
  retirements, deaths, resignations, migration,
  dismissals
• 3. Estimate formulas to calculate variables e.g.
  retirements (2.5 per year)
• 4. Define assumptions
• 5. Calculate projections using stock and flow
  methods

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Human Resources Supply Model

• -New trainees
• -People returning
• to work
• -People transferring
• from jobs elsewhere
• -People coming from
• other sectors

Gains
-Deaths -Normal Retirements -Transfers in Health
sector -Transfer out of health sectors -Emigration
-Temporary Losses
Current Stock of a Category
Losses
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Indonesian Projections
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How can supply be increased?

• Reduce Losses!!!
• Increase supply (but can be slow)
• Increase returns (incentives and motivators)

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Balance between pharmacists and pharmacy
technicians

• A well trained (3 years) pharmacy technician can
  perform many of the functions that a pharmacist
  can and the salary of a pharmacy technician is
  usually 40-50 of a pharmacist
• One pharmacist can supervise 3-5 pharm techs
• What is the ideal balance or ratio?
• What about training numbers?

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Ratios of Pharmacists to Pharmacy Assistants
Indonesia
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Curricula Issues

• Are pharmacy and medical graduates in your
  country prepared to work as pharmacists and
  physicians upon graduation?

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Curricula Issues

• Changing roles for pharmacists
• Coursework does NOT prepare pharmacist to work
• in TODAYs world
• Professors unwilling to change
• Difficult transition for graduates
• Student today, mentor and pharmacist tomorrow
• Teaching methods are suboptimal
• Colleges unwilling to train pharmacy technicians

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Changing Roles for Pharmacists

• Traditional Roles for Pharmacists
• Community Pharmacist
• mixing and grinding
• Hospital Pharmacist
• Industry

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Evolution of Pharmacists Roles

• Management
• Pharmaceutical Care
• Information, Education, Communication
• Quality Assurance
• RD pharmaceutical production
• Regulation and Ethics
• Marketing
• Education and Training of Pharmacists
• Public Health

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Required Skills Are Linked with Changing Roles

• Two kinds of skills
• general skills needed by all pharmacists
• specific skills needed in certain areas
• These skills are not being addressed in curricula
• Some skills are learned on the job

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Pharmacists Roles and SkillsPractice Area
Education Training

• Role Curriculm Development
• Skills Needed
• Negotiation
• Communication
• Academic Practice Policies
• Curriculum Devt.
• Aims Objectives Writing
• Problem-Based Learning

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Management Roles Skills

• Role Management Information Systems
• Skills Needed
• Information storage, retrieval, and utilization
• Contract Development
• Procurement Quantification skills
• Inventory
• Distribution

• Role Human Resources
• Skills needed
• HR Management Skills
• Hiring, Firing, Contract Development, Salary
  Surveys Adjustments
• Leadership skills
• Communication skills

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Why are skills not included in curricula?

• Lack of written goals and objectives for
  curricula
• Lack of curricula evaluation and revision
• Teachers are not practitioners
• Teachers have not kept up to date

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How Can We Better Prepare Students?

• Curriculum Evaluation Revision
• make small changes first
• start with one class
• choose friendly professor
• complete overhaul is very difficult
• conversion to all PharmD made this possible in US
• Include pharmacists and physicians in teaching
  and curriculum evaluation
• Dont wait for an invitation!

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Curricula Evaluation Revision

• COURSE MAPPING
• Determine what skills are needed today and
  project skills needed in near future
• Use skills to compile a list of goals and
  objectives
• Determine which courses (existing or new) can
  meet your goals and objectives and provide
  necessary skills
• Include practitioners in process

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Do all Students Need to Learn about Everything?

• 2 Options
• Prepare all students with general skills
• Offer tracks of specialization
• Management
• Research
• Pharmaceutical Care
• Industry

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Teaching Methods

• How many key points can a student recall from a
  lecture?

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Improving Teaching Methods

• Problem-based learning
• Emphasis on case-based instruction
• Can include many skills in one case
• Small group workshops and presentations
• Goal of creating active learners and replicating
  real life scenarios

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Teaching Students to Communicate

• Who do pharmacists communicate with?
• Teaching Communication Skills
• Courses Interpersonal Communication
• Labs Professional Pharmacy Practice
• Exams Oral Proficiency Exam (ESL)
• Combining pharmacy students with medical students
  in class
• pharmacology

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Example of Course EvolutionProfessional
Pharmacy Practice

• Past Dispensing, monitoring, counseling
• Now Disease State Management with lab
• Peak-Flow meters
• Blood glucometers
• Vital Signs
• Monitoring, Intervening, Education

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Conclusion

• Large gap between academia and practice
• Bridge Gap by
• Continuous curricula evaluation revision
• identify needed skills and map skills to courses
• Incorporation of practitioners into teaching
  curriculum evaluation
• Improvement of teaching methods
• PBL

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Exercise refer to pages 13-15

• Complete Columns B, D, E, and F