An occupational survey of hospital pharmacists in the south of England

Abstract

AIM • To measure the occupational satisfaction of pharmacists practising in NHS hospitals and to examine potential contributory demographic factors. DESIGN • Postal questionnaire consisting of Likert scale response items pertaining to general and specific aspects of daily work and career, and a section on personal and employment details. SUBJECTS AND SETTING • Hospital pharmacists practising in two regions in the south of England. Questionnaires were sent to a total of 1,264 pharmacists (49% response). RESULTS • The questionnaire was validated for a UK sample of hospital pharmacists using factor analysis and reliability tests. A total of 12 factors were extracted pertaining to general and specific aspects of job and career satisfaction. All factors exhibited good internal reliability. Standardised factor scores highlighted that junior grade pharmacists (grades A to C) are significantly less satisfied than the higher grades of D and above in many aspects related to daily work. Of the sample surveyed, 75% were female. Within both male and female groups there was a higher percentage of men in senior grade posts than women when contrasted with junior grades. CONCLUSIONS • Junior grade pharmacists have been shown to be the least satisfied with respect to job, career and other related aspects of work. Reasons for this finding are unclear from this quantitative survey. However, several major areas of concern are highlighted enabling pharmacy managers to address the problem of recruitment and retention.