Effects of the Use of ICT and Dispensing Assistants in Pharmacies on the Sufficiency of Pharmacist Services or the Need for Additional Pharmacists by 2025: Comparing by the Number of Pharmacists and the Operation of Pharmacists

Abstract

We surveyed the status of the number of pharmacists and the need for additional pharmacists by 2025 and calculated the sufficiency rate of pharmacists in pharmacies and the expected sufficiency rate of pharmacists in pharmacies in 2025 according to the number of working pharmacists. We then examined the sufficiency of the pharmacist work content and the need for an increase in the number of pharmacists by 2025 and how the use of information and communications technology (ICT) and dispensing assistants would affect pharmacist workloads. The results showed that pharmacies with only one pharmacist have a low shortage of pharmacists and that the shortage of pharmacists is expected to become even more serious, and that the satisfaction of patient-centered services other than filling prescriptions regardless of the number of pharmacists, and that the usage of ICT and dispensing assistants has the effect of promoting pharmacists’ patient-centered services. In particular, the need for more pharmacists in patient-centered services other than prescription receipt increased in pharmacies with one-person pharmacies, and the use of dispensing assistants had a similar effect in pharmacies with two pharmacists. The results suggest that the use of ICT and dispensing assistants will promote a shift to interpersonal services in small pharmacies if the necessary supply of pharmacists is secured in the future.