A cross-sectional study of demonstrating expertise and job satisfaction in pharmacists and dietitians working in community pharmacies in Japan

BACKGROUND: In Japan, there has been a private-sector initiative to register dietitians in pharmacies. There is not yet an adequate amount of data on the attitudes of dietitians in pharmacies regarding their work. OBJECTIVES: To assess the attitudes of pharmacists and dietitians working in community pharmacies in Japan about their work, and particularly about demonstrating expertise and overall job satisfaction. METHODS: We administered a web-based questionnaire to pharmacists and dietitians working in pharmacy branches with registered dietitians at two pharmacy chains that agreed to cooperate. We used our own 7-item questionnaire and compared the scores for each item between pharmacists and dietitians. RESULTS: A total of 61 persons (22 pharmacists and 39 dietitians) answered the questionnaire. The item with the highest mean score (standard deviation) for pharmacists was “I feel that I am helpful to patients,” at 3.50 (0.74), and for dietitians it was “I have colleagues at my workplace whom I can talk to when I have a problem,” at 3.51 (1.00). Conversely, the items with the lowest mean score (standard deviation) were “I am satisfied with my current job” for pharmacists, at 3.14 (0.83), and “I can grow sufficiently as a professional” for dietitians, at 2.41 (0.97). As a result of factor analysis, the seven-item question could be divided into two factors: “demonstrating expertise” and “overall job satisfaction.” The factor-score for “demonstrating expertise” was significantly lower for dietitians than for pharmacists (p<0.01), but there was no significant difference in overall job satisfaction between the two professions (p=0.36). Further research is needed to understand why dietitians find “demonstrating expertise” difficult in pharmacies. CONCLUSIONS: The attitudes of pharmacists and dietitians working in pharmacies in Japan toward their jobs were shown to consist of “demonstration of expertise” and “overall job satisfaction. Dietitians had significantly lower scores on “demonstration of expertise” than pharmacists.