On the demand for nursing labour in hospital pharmacies. (1st January 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Murphy, Sean M.; Friesner, Daniel L.; Rosenman, Robert
• Is Part Of: International journal of services, economics and management. Volume 5:Number 3(2013)
• Page Start: 179
• Page End: 202
• Publication Date: 2013-01-01
• Subjects: hospital pharmacy -- nursing demand -- hospital production -- service distribution -- rural hospitals; Service industries -- Management -- Periodicals; Service industries -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; 658
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1753-0822

Abstract

One component of hospital production that has received little attention is that of the generalist nurse in the pharmacy. After developing a theoretical model characterising pharmacy nursing demand, we identify and explore two major questions of interest. The first pertains to which factors influence the likelihood that a hospital will choose to allocate generalist nurses to the pharmacy. The second asks, among hospitals that employ generalist nurses in the pharmacy (while simultaneously controlling for those that do not), what factors affect the quantity of nursing FTEs used. We find that the determinants for both decisions are quite similar. Overall, a greater service distribution seems to have a positive impact on pharmacy nursing demand, as does an older patient population. Community characteristics proxies, such as being located in a rural area and the proportion of outpatients insured by Medicaid, appear to negatively affect the quantity of nurses employed in the pharmacy.