中込 啓一

Background: Pharmacy graduates’ attitudes toward their work at the early career stage, their career status, job satisfaction, and future plans have not been surveyed in Japan.Methods: Postcards were sent to 514 pharmacy graduates from a University in Tokyo, Japan, asking graduates to answer an online cross-sectional questionnaire.Results: Of the 86 respondents, 15% changed their jobs within three years, and the number of pharmacists working in the “community pharmacy” sector notably increased. Respondents working in non-pharmacy sectors were more satisfied with their jobs than those in the pharmacy sector. Furthermore, job satisfaction impacted the respondents’ future work plans, and the distribution of job satisfaction varied by current career sectors.Conclusion: In response to the global social and economic situations, pharmacy education should consider various fields and skills. Career guidance should be incorporated into the pharmacy curriculum. Further studies on this case are required worldwide to prepare pharmacists for their future roles.

Few studies in Japan use clustering to examine the work attitudes of pharmacists. This study conducts an exploratory analysis to classify those attitudes based on previous studies to help staff pharmacists and their management to understand their mutually beneficial requirements.<br /> Survey data collected in previous studies from 1 228 community pharmacists and 419 hospital pharmacists were analyzed using Quantification Theory 3 and clustering.<br /> Among community pharmacists, two clusters, namely 30- to 34-year-old married males and married males aged over 35 years, reported the highest job satisfaction, intending to remain in their jobs for 5 years or more or until retirement. Conversely, one cluster of 35- to 39-year-old single females reported the lowest job satisfaction and intended to remain for less than 5 years or were undecided. Among hospital pharmacists, one cluster of 22- to 25-year-old single males reported the highest job satisfaction and intended to remain for more than 5 years. Conversely, one cluster of 30- to 34-year-old married males reported the lowest job satisfaction and a period of working undetermined.<br /> This study used clustering to explore how pharmacists of different ages, marital statuses, and experience felt regarding their work. Job satisfaction and human relationships are significant in considering future work plans of practicing pharmacists. Pharmacy staff, supervisors, and managers of community or hospital pharmacies must recognize features of pharmacists’ work attitudes for offering high-quality service to patients.

The top three influences excluded elective classes for intended career decision were the &#039;hospital pharmacy training&#039;, &#039;community pharmacy training&#039;, and &#039;outside job fairs&#039;. The major three third party influences for final career<br /> decision were &#039;own interests&#039;, &#039;recruiters&#039;, and &#039;friends&#039;.<br /> Training at community and hospital pharmacy are crucial programme considerations towards future careers for many students. Educators, including pharmacists and personnel at practice sites need to understand how their activities can influence the future career choice of students.

１．「ジェネリック・スキル」および「生活満足度」、「人間関係の満足度」は「自己の探求」受講後有意に増加した。<br /> ２．「ジェネリック・スキル」全体を示す「ＧＳ」で、受講後「男性」が有意に高くなった。<br /> ３．「学科」別では、受講後全てのカテゴリーで有意差を示し、特に「聴き・伝える力」で人を中心に学習していく「学科」は、いわゆる理科系「学科」より高いスコアを示した。<br /> ４．「出身地」別では、「留学生」は受講前、全てのカテゴリーで高いスコアを示したが、受講後順位を落とした。「気づく力」以外「出身地」間の有意差はなかった。<br /> ５．「部活経験」別では、受講後全てのカテゴリーで有意差はなかったが、「複数部活」または「体育系」経験者のスコアは高くなった。<br /> ６．「生活満足度」、「人間関係満足度」「就職意欲」で「女性」のスコアが高く、また全てが「学科」間で有意差があった。「就職意欲」は免許取得可能学科で高かった。<br />

Results: The proportion of usable data from surveyed pharmacists was 71.7%. Approximately 80% of the respondents desired to commit to careers in the healthcare field and were keen to gain opportunities for personal development. Personal development was the key item among reasons given for decisions about workplace and turnover. About 95% of the pharmacists surveyed were satisfied with their jobs. Compared to the job satisfaction level of other workers, that of pharmacists was considerably higher, although only 5.5% of pharmacists saw themselves staying in their current job until retirement. Job satisfaction data demonstrated significant differences among cohorts of age and years employed, although some specific items associated with job satisfaction could not be identified. Future work plans were influenced by age and job satisfaction.