Introduction
There have been reports of dissatisfaction amongst UK community pharmacists regarding their professional roles and career progression^1,2. Reasons for leaving pharmacy have included a lack of professional fulfilment and challenge and isolation from peers and other healthcare professionals². Whilst there are many new and exciting opportunities in community pharmacy, it is unknown whether participation alone will affect job and career satisfaction. This study explored community pharmacists’ job and career satisfaction and the effect of participation in medicines management service provision on their satisfaction over time.

Method
The study sample comprised three PCTs in East London; including pharmacists participating in the scheme (intervention or active group: training and service provision) and those not participating (non-intervention or control group). The longitudinal study design incorporated a postal survey that was administered at three points in time during the medicines management scheme (t_0, t₁ and t₂). The questionnaire comprised pharmacist demographics and eight items on job satisfaction (JS) and career satisfaction (CS), modified for use in community pharmacy from a hospital pharmacy occupational survey³. A five point Likert scale coded responses to items. The initial postal survey at t₀ was sent to ninety-eight community pharmacists, the subsequent follow-up surveys at t₁ and t₂ were sent to all pharmacists in the intervention group and those in the non-intervention group who had responded to the initial survey. Data were coded and entered into an SPSS 12.01 database for analysis.

Results and Discussion
Seventy pharmacists responded to the survey at t₀, fifty-six at t₁ and forty-nine at t₂. Using constructs derived from an earlier factor analysis³, factor scores were constructed with high coefficient alpha values ranging from 0.74 to 0.93. At the start of the study⁴ and at the first follow-up, no statistically significant differences were found between pharmacists’ job or career satisfactions between the two groups. At the second follow-up, after pharmacists in the intervention group had completed the training and provided the service, the active pharmacists showed more job satisfaction (t-test p = 0.022; Figure 1) and more career satisfaction (t-test p = 0.029; Figure 2) compared with the control pharmacists. Changes in the active pharmacists’ job and career satisfaction may be due to participation in the medicines management project and are being explored through concurrent qualitative work.

Figure 1. Job satisfaction at t₂. Figure 2. Career satisfaction at t₂.

References

1. Boardman H, Blenkinsopp A, Jesson J, Wilson K. Understanding satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the pharmacy workforce: findings from the West Midlands Project. Pharm J 1999; 263: R4.

2. Tweddell S J and Wright D J. Determining why community pharmacists choose to leave community pharmacy. Pharm J 2000; 265: R44.

3. Rajah T, Bates I, Davies JG, Webb DG, Fleming G. An occupational survey of hospital pharmacists in the South of England. Pharm J 2001; 266: 723 – 726.

4. Laaksonen R, Duggan C, Bates I and Mackie C. Community pharmacists’ job and career satisfaction. Health Services Research Conference 2003: 6.