I read the post above and found it interesting. I have thought a bit about what you have to say about schools for accupuncture closing. Here is a blog post about a pharmacy school closing. It talks about dropping numbers of pharmacists and the high cost of pharmacy school. It seems as if other helping professions are experiencing the same thing as accupunture/chinese medicine schools. I didn't know how else to contact Ms. Rohleder because I found this article from a pharmacist about pharmacy school closing:
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College of Pharmacy Closing: University Of Charleston
By Eric Christianson on December 18, 2024
As a pharmacist, I care about the profession. A college of pharmacy is closing and this is a good time to reassess the status of the profession of pharmacy. I do not know much about the University of Charleston School of Pharmacy but reports indicate that it is closing. From previous NAPLEX numbers, it appears that they graduated approximately 35 students over the last few years. I have followed NAPLEX trends very closely and noticed that they were very low on NAPLEX pass rates. The reason cited for the closure is the lack of interest from students. Current students will be able to finish their degree, so that is a bit of positive news and obviously the right thing to do.
Pharmacy school is very rigorous. Combine that with large loans, negative reports on working conditions, and alternative career options, you might understand why application numbers are declining. First attempts of the NAPLEX have fallen dramatically. In just 2 years, NAPLEX first attempts dropped from over 14,000 (2021) to approximately 11,500 (2023). Indeed, there are fewer students in pharmacy school and pursuing a career in pharmacy.
Change Continues
I'm so torn by the issue of having a lower number of pharmacists in the United States. We can provide tremendous value and education about medications. There are more medications to know and learn every year. Continuity of care seems to get worse over time with more and more specialization as well as more healthcare workforce turnover. It feels like no one is looking at the entire patient medication picture anymore. The demand for pharmacists should go up in the long run.
On the flipside, retail/community pharmacies have been closing at rapid rates. This understandably reduces the demand for pharmacists. Factory-like and corporate conditions steal the joy from many pharmacists that I've talked to. The majority of pharmacists get satisfaction from helping people, educating patients, and being a trusted resource for drug knowledge.
With the dramatic closing of retail/community pharmacies across the country, the profession of pharmacy will continue to change. Pharmacy schools will continue to be impacted by this trend. I hope the fewer and fewer of us that remain can retool and reshape it into something amazing.
I continue to work as a geriatric consultant pharmacist and enjoy my work. There are options within the profession that are desirable and obviously, that message isn't getting the students who may consider a PharmD degree.
What do you think? Is closing a college of pharmacy helpful? Are fewer colleges of pharmacy better in the long run? Does this hurt patients if there are fewer pharmacists? What should we change within the profession?
Thank you all for your continued support of my blog!
Thank you, Daniel, that's very interesting! I have heard similar information about alcohol and drug counselors -- the cost of entering the field just doesn't pencil out with what the people in the field are dealing with, both in terms of working conditions and compensation. You can write to me at lisar@pocatech.org
While the late TAI didn't use the term entrepreneurship the program did a good job, imo, of teaching it. And, I am happy to say it did not imply that we'd be experts when we graduated - the stated goal was that we would be competent beginners. It kept us humble.
So now the million-dollar question for you, Elaine -- what changed and how did it change? Apologies in advance, I bet that's a really long answer. But I'm very interested in how TAI went from what you're describing to the MUIH of today, which apparently is just behind OCOM and SWAC in its Borrowers' Defense applications. Was it mostly access to student loans? What other forces dragged the school off course? Asking for a friend ;)
I worked on a response for much of the morning and it is making me think I should apply for a PhD program because I can see it could be my dissertation. I don't have the patience to do it justice now, though I will save my draft! But, some quick thoughts --
Once accreditation and board certification entered the picture (TAI founders were really not in favor of either) there was more messaging from the outside about what an acupuncture career would look like - which in turn attracted younger students who were carrying more undergrad debt. (When I entered the program at 28 I was considered very young. Most of my colleagues were career-switchers. We knew about the program because we'd been patients of previous grads, and had seen first-hand what a TAI style practice looked like.) (I think back in the day there were more limits on borrowing, too.)
The founders of TAI, mostly, did not have an especially deep foundation in what we know think of as Chinese Medicine. JR Worsley’s own training is cloaked in mystery and the training Bob Duggan and Dianne Connolly received from him didn’t seem to be that rigorous. Worsley 5E acupuncture probably has as much in common with Myers Briggs and the Enneagram than what most think of as Chinese medicine. Sure, there was the idea that treating the correct underlying imbalance would help a person's body in addition to mind and spirit, but the interactions between practitioner and patient were, imo, closer to therapist and client than surgeon and patient. And Bob often said something like - professionalizing acupuncture will destroy it.
Ability to get loans and take out more took away downward pressure on tuition. Accreditation and certification prep added upward pressure.
And, the student clinic when I was there pretty much forced people to start a practice on their own. We had to find our own patients and had to get them to come at least ten (or maybe six?) times for them to "count" and the clinic fees were set up so that we were collecting money from the patient and paying the clinic "rent" for each treatment. This turned out to not be legal - so that system (which was also unfair in that students with resources could subsidize their "clients" while people without couldn't afford to do that) had to go. I understand why the system had to go. And, it did teach entrepreneurship/a lot about building a practice.
Once Bob and Dianne were no longer affiliated with the school it became like all the rest of the schools - we're professionals, we're going to change the world, and you are going to have a great career....
Sometime I would like to read your dissertation :) But in the meantime that's very helpful, and there are lots of echoes of POCA Tech's trajectory (as you know).
I read the post above and found it interesting. I have thought a bit about what you have to say about schools for accupuncture closing. Here is a blog post about a pharmacy school closing. It talks about dropping numbers of pharmacists and the high cost of pharmacy school. It seems as if other helping professions are experiencing the same thing as accupunture/chinese medicine schools. I didn't know how else to contact Ms. Rohleder because I found this article from a pharmacist about pharmacy school closing:
Site logo image Med Ed 101 Read on blog or Reader
College of Pharmacy Closing: University Of Charleston
By Eric Christianson on December 18, 2024
As a pharmacist, I care about the profession. A college of pharmacy is closing and this is a good time to reassess the status of the profession of pharmacy. I do not know much about the University of Charleston School of Pharmacy but reports indicate that it is closing. From previous NAPLEX numbers, it appears that they graduated approximately 35 students over the last few years. I have followed NAPLEX trends very closely and noticed that they were very low on NAPLEX pass rates. The reason cited for the closure is the lack of interest from students. Current students will be able to finish their degree, so that is a bit of positive news and obviously the right thing to do.
Pharmacy school is very rigorous. Combine that with large loans, negative reports on working conditions, and alternative career options, you might understand why application numbers are declining. First attempts of the NAPLEX have fallen dramatically. In just 2 years, NAPLEX first attempts dropped from over 14,000 (2021) to approximately 11,500 (2023). Indeed, there are fewer students in pharmacy school and pursuing a career in pharmacy.
Change Continues
I'm so torn by the issue of having a lower number of pharmacists in the United States. We can provide tremendous value and education about medications. There are more medications to know and learn every year. Continuity of care seems to get worse over time with more and more specialization as well as more healthcare workforce turnover. It feels like no one is looking at the entire patient medication picture anymore. The demand for pharmacists should go up in the long run.
On the flipside, retail/community pharmacies have been closing at rapid rates. This understandably reduces the demand for pharmacists. Factory-like and corporate conditions steal the joy from many pharmacists that I've talked to. The majority of pharmacists get satisfaction from helping people, educating patients, and being a trusted resource for drug knowledge.
With the dramatic closing of retail/community pharmacies across the country, the profession of pharmacy will continue to change. Pharmacy schools will continue to be impacted by this trend. I hope the fewer and fewer of us that remain can retool and reshape it into something amazing.
I continue to work as a geriatric consultant pharmacist and enjoy my work. There are options within the profession that are desirable and obviously, that message isn't getting the students who may consider a PharmD degree.
What do you think? Is closing a college of pharmacy helpful? Are fewer colleges of pharmacy better in the long run? Does this hurt patients if there are fewer pharmacists? What should we change within the profession?
Thank you all for your continued support of my blog!
Eric Christianson, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP
Thank you, Daniel, that's very interesting! I have heard similar information about alcohol and drug counselors -- the cost of entering the field just doesn't pencil out with what the people in the field are dealing with, both in terms of working conditions and compensation. You can write to me at lisar@pocatech.org
While the late TAI didn't use the term entrepreneurship the program did a good job, imo, of teaching it. And, I am happy to say it did not imply that we'd be experts when we graduated - the stated goal was that we would be competent beginners. It kept us humble.
So now the million-dollar question for you, Elaine -- what changed and how did it change? Apologies in advance, I bet that's a really long answer. But I'm very interested in how TAI went from what you're describing to the MUIH of today, which apparently is just behind OCOM and SWAC in its Borrowers' Defense applications. Was it mostly access to student loans? What other forces dragged the school off course? Asking for a friend ;)
I worked on a response for much of the morning and it is making me think I should apply for a PhD program because I can see it could be my dissertation. I don't have the patience to do it justice now, though I will save my draft! But, some quick thoughts --
Once accreditation and board certification entered the picture (TAI founders were really not in favor of either) there was more messaging from the outside about what an acupuncture career would look like - which in turn attracted younger students who were carrying more undergrad debt. (When I entered the program at 28 I was considered very young. Most of my colleagues were career-switchers. We knew about the program because we'd been patients of previous grads, and had seen first-hand what a TAI style practice looked like.) (I think back in the day there were more limits on borrowing, too.)
The founders of TAI, mostly, did not have an especially deep foundation in what we know think of as Chinese Medicine. JR Worsley’s own training is cloaked in mystery and the training Bob Duggan and Dianne Connolly received from him didn’t seem to be that rigorous. Worsley 5E acupuncture probably has as much in common with Myers Briggs and the Enneagram than what most think of as Chinese medicine. Sure, there was the idea that treating the correct underlying imbalance would help a person's body in addition to mind and spirit, but the interactions between practitioner and patient were, imo, closer to therapist and client than surgeon and patient. And Bob often said something like - professionalizing acupuncture will destroy it.
Ability to get loans and take out more took away downward pressure on tuition. Accreditation and certification prep added upward pressure.
And, the student clinic when I was there pretty much forced people to start a practice on their own. We had to find our own patients and had to get them to come at least ten (or maybe six?) times for them to "count" and the clinic fees were set up so that we were collecting money from the patient and paying the clinic "rent" for each treatment. This turned out to not be legal - so that system (which was also unfair in that students with resources could subsidize their "clients" while people without couldn't afford to do that) had to go. I understand why the system had to go. And, it did teach entrepreneurship/a lot about building a practice.
Once Bob and Dianne were no longer affiliated with the school it became like all the rest of the schools - we're professionals, we're going to change the world, and you are going to have a great career....
Sometime I would like to read your dissertation :) But in the meantime that's very helpful, and there are lots of echoes of POCA Tech's trajectory (as you know).