(123) Changes in Frequency, Relevance, and Importance of Pharmacist-reported Job-related Tasks from 2012-2022

Objective : The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is a public database of occupational information sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. We used these data to characterize changes in tasks performed by pharmacists over 10 years.

Methods: O*NET data are collected via standardized surveys directly from a random sample of employees in targeted occupations at businesses and other organizations. We examined the top 20 tasks reported by pharmacists for importance, frequency, and relevance. Relevance was rated on a 0-100 scale, importance from 1-5, and frequency from 1 (performed yearly) to 7 (done hourly). We calculated the percent of pharmacists performing each task at least daily (scale 5-7).

Results: The top 3 tasks “to review a prescription,” “provide drug information,” and “maintain pharmacy records and patient profiles” have changed minimally in frequency, importance, and relevance in the past 10 years. There was an upward trend in frequency of interprofessional collaborations (10-13% increase), and a downward trend in sterile and non-sterile compounding (7-28% decrease). The task “update or troubleshoot pharmacy information databases” was not in the 2012 O*NET survey but exhibited a 28% increase in the percent of pharmacists performing this task daily between 2017 and 2022.

Conclusions: Over ten years, pharmacists continued to frequently perform the relevant and important tasks that they are uniquely qualified to do, such as prescription review and provision of medication information. Frequency of informatics tasks and interprofessional collaborative activities is increasing, while compounding activities are decreasing. It is imperative that pharmacy curricula prepare students for the workforce.