Organizational Development Focused on Improving Job Satisfaction for Healthcare Organizations With Pharmacists

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed pharmacists to deliver more hands-on care and redefine their role (Arya et al., 2020). Patients often do not know pharmacists can perform complex clinical functions around therapy optimization, not just dispensing pills (Arya et al., 2020). Today, 53% of US-licensed pharmacists are doctors of pharmacy who receive as much classroom clinical instruction as medical doctors (Arya et al., 2020). If more pharmacists were to operate to the full potential of their professional education and skill sets, they could play an essential role in elevating the well-being of healthcare consumers (Arya et al., 2020)

Pharmacists are accessible healthcare providers who also gatekeep between drug manufacturers, healthcare providers, and patients (Bates et al., 2016). Pharmacists are responsible for the safe, effective, and rational use of medicine in their communities (Anderson, 2002); therefore, they play essential roles in global healthcare delivery.

Changes in legislative frameworks, political arrangements, and management styles in the workplace affect health service delivery (Molnar et al., 2019). Pharmaceutical care has shifted the orientation of pharmacists and transferred attention from products to patients (Anderson, 2002). Pharmaceutical care demands a responsible provision of drug therapy to achieve defined health outcomes that improve quality of life (Hepler & Strand, 1990). As a result, pharmacists are directly accountable to patients for drug therapy outcomes (Anderson, 2002).

The global healthcare workforce continues to face dramatic changes, unequal distribution of the burden of disease, and disease management, which could overwhelm and threaten the sustainability of the existing healthcare infrastructure (Bates et al., 2016). World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a workforce shortage of 7.2 million healthcare workers, and this deficit is expected to increase to 12.9 million by 2035 (Bates et al., 2016). The pharmacy workforce also continues to change, and shortages have been reported in all practice sectors (Bates et al., 2016). The need to plan pharmacy service delivery and ensure optimal workplace conditions for efficient delivery in the current healthcare market cannot be overemphasized.

Due to the sustainability of service delivery being of paramount importance, of particular interest to healthcare organizations are retention, job satisfaction, and output of pharmacists. Job satisfaction is the extent to which employees are content with their jobs (Govender et al., 2013). Job satisfaction is “the match between an individual's expectations and the perceived reality of the job, which is affected by personal and organizational factors” (Urbonas & Kubiliene, 2016, p. 253). Job satisfaction includes employees' perceptions of their working environments, relationships with colleagues, earnings, and promotion opportunities in the workplace (Belias, 2014). As a multidimensional concept, job satisfaction compares the reality of a work environment to the pharmacist's desires and expectations (Carvajal et al., 2018). Job satisfaction allows pharmacist to analyze their well-being based on experiences in a position and work setting (Carvajal et al., 2018). Job satisfaction also affects employee retention, well-being, patient outcomes, and business performance (Al Nadabi et al., 2019; Mufarrih et al., 2019). Good working conditions enhance job satisfaction, and job-satisfied employees are more committed to their jobs and organizations (Govender et al., 2013).