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KU seeks to ease pharmacist shortage
There is a graduate of KU’s School of Pharmacy in 95 of the 105 Kansas counties, but even that isn’t enough to stem a growing shortage of pharmacists in the state.
That’s why KU leaders, backed by the Board of Regents, will be talking to legislators next session about expanding the school’s operations in Wichita and Lawrence. The need for such an expansion becomes apparent when one looks at a map showing just how widespread the shortage is. Six counties are without a pharmacy, and an additional 30 have only one.
“This is a problem for all Kansans living in those areas, but it places a major burden on residents with limited mobility, such as seniors and Kansans with disabilities,” wrote State Sen. Vicki Schmidt (R-Topeka) and State Rep. Don Hill (R-Emporia) in a recent op-ed.
Both are pharmacists who have seen the effects of the shortage firsthand.
KU’s proposal to legislators would nearly double the number of students graduating from the School of Pharmacy, which currently stands at 105 per year. Forty-five of the new slots would be in Lawrence and an additional 40 at the KU School of Medicine in Wichita.
The dean of the School of Pharmacy, Ken Audus, explained that the need for pharmacists and the interest from students in pharmacy as a career are both there.
“We turn away 335 students per year,” Audus recently told the Harris News Service. “The most difficult letters I have to write are those saying, ‘You’re fully qualified but we don’t have the space.’”
