How Much Time Do Pharmacists Spend with Patients and How Many Prescriptions Do They Fill?

by Jaime Brewster

Pharmacists increasingly play a critical role in the healthcare system through the medicine and advice they provide to consumers.

The 114,765 actively practicing full-time pharmacists in the U.S. report spending an average of just over 2 hours of time consulting with patients per day, according to Kantar Media’s 2013 Pharmacy study. 

These figures have not fluctuated very much since 2008, continuing to hover around 2 hours.

A large portion of a pharmacist’s work responsibilities also includes filling and refilling prescriptions for consumers. The 138,271 actively practicing pharmacists  in the U.S. report filling/refilling about 259 prescriptions in an average day. Similar to patient interaction, this number also hasn’t wavered very much since 2009, ranging from about 251-259 prescriptions filled per day.

Kantar Media’s 2013 Pharmacy Readership study is designed to provide an unbiased evaluation of media brand consumption and information sources used by pharmacists, tied to their patient interactions, prescribing habits, work location and role, to assist marketers as they evaluate promotional potential in pharmacy media.

If you have questions or would like to find out how you can access the just-released data, contact us now.