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Pharmacists
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>Pharmacists
In 2001, there were 3,743 active licensed pharmacists in Arizona. There was an increase of 843 pharmacists (29%) between 1997 and 2001 (
Figure 21
and
Table 13
). During this five-year period, Arizona’s ratio of pharmacists per 100,000 population increased from 63.1 to 70.5 (
Figure 22
). Although this increase occurred in all three county geographical areas (urban – 70.9 to 80.3, rural-urban – 43.8 to 45.3, and rural-rural – 35.7 to 37.0), the greatest increase was in the two urban counties.
Pharmacists are recognized as medication experts in the health field and are the primary dispensers of prescription drugs that are used for the curing, preventing, eliminating, and diagnosing of diseases. They promote the appropriate use of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Most pharmacists are employed in the community setting. In 1998, Arizona had 47.1 pharmacists per 100,000 population, which was lower than the Region IX average of 52.3 and the national average of 65.9 (ranking 49th out of 50 states)¹.
During the period from 1997 to 2001, the number of pharmacists increased in the two urban counties by +760 (30%). Maricopa County (+599 and 32%) showed higher increases in the number of pharmacists than Pima County (+161 and 27%). The 13 rural counties had similar percentage increases: rural-urban (+21 and 20%) and rural-rural (+62 and 21%). There were no changes in the number of pharmacists in Greenlee (1), La Paz (2), and Santa Cruz (6) Counties. The remaining counties all showed increases in the number of pharmacists over the five-year period.
