Over the last few difficult months for the economy there has been a noticeable shift from PRN scheduling to hiring a consistent contract pharmacist. Frustrations over the additional work involved to schedule, and making sure that schedules are fair and balanced for their own staff are moving healthcare facilities to bring in one temporary pharmacist to cover a gap in the schedule (short and long term).
The benefits of this from the facility side are two fold. The person who comes in knows what is happening on a daily basis which provides continuity, and there is less work to schedule when the same person is available for the required days and commits to them at the beginning of the assignment. As well, the contract pharmacist commits to the same schedule that the internal staff works discounting the perception of "special treatment" for the temp. They're all in it together.
This has impacted pharmacists because now there are more pharmacists available for PRNwork, but less places to bring them into the pools. On the retail side, more and more retail pharmacies are looking at ways to do more with less and are utilizing their PRN pools on fewer occasions.
PRN pools were a good idea but now with so much focus on doing more with less time and resources available that Managers and Coordinators have less time to spend making scheduling calls.
Comments