Pharmacy school to be built in S. Jordan

An acute shortage of pharmacists in Utah and across the nation has launched the building of a new pharmacy school in South Jordan.

On Thursday, the University of Southern Nevada announced it would build a new campus at the RiverPark Corporate Center, 10969 S. 720 West, adding to the university's main site in Henderson, Nev.

The $38 million building is expected to be finished by December 2006 and in five years will accommodate roughly 1,000 students and 100 faculty and staff positions, with a payroll greater than $10 million, according to Harry Rosenberg, founding president of USN.

Renee Coffman, dean of the pharmacy college at USN, said the growth of pharmacy schools nationwide has not kept pace with the need for pharmacists. The West, Coffman said, has fewer pharmacy schools per capita than the rest of the nation.

Another reason for the shortage is the rapid rise of new prescriptions filled. In the past 10 years, Coffman said, the number of prescriptions filled has skyrocketed from 2 billion to 3 billion.

"You need pharmacists to fill those," Coffman said. "In the Western region, with the exception of California and Arizona, Utah has the highest demand."

In fact, according to a July 2004 study by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, nine Utah cities were identified as "shortage areas." They included: Draper, Layton, Orem, Park City, Riverdale, Roy, Salt Lake City, Sandy and West Jordan.

According to the same report, as of July 2004 there were 3,414 full-time unfilled pharmacy positions at chain drug stores nationwide. In addition, 610 part-time positions were open.

April Shaughnessy, senior director of governance and planning for the American Pharmacists Association, said over the last couple of years there has been a "hyper demand" for pharmacists.

"We've seen some easing in some areas," Shaughnessy said. "There is still a demand, but it seems to be less than it was a year ago or two years ago."

In September, Pharmacy Manpower Project Inc. ranked Utah 3.83 on a scale ranging from zero to five, with five representing the highest demand for pharmacists. Shaughnessy said Utah's ranking indicates it is "moderately difficult" to fill pharmacy positions.

"There has just been a lot of increase in pharmacies that have opened," Shaughnessy said. "There is increased demand from an aging population for prescriptions. In some states, they're finding there is a lot of population growth so their demands have gone up."