A National Survey Assessing the Current Workforce of Transplant Pharmacists Across Accredited U.S. Solid Organ Transplant Programs

Integration of pharmacists into multidisciplinary transplant patient care has advanced in recent years, with limited data available to evaluate the current status of the profession. This was a national survey developed as an AST Pharmacy COP initiative. Responses were solicited from pharmacists practicing at U.S. transplant programs based on UNOS listing; 176 participants from 113 centers (41%) responded, with 79% practicing ≤10 years. There is a median of 1.4 pharmacist full-time equivalents (FTEs) (range 0.1–7.1) for every 100 transplants. The predominant activities performed by pharmacists during the transplant phase include medication review (95%), lab review (92%), allergy review (88%), medication therapy management (92%), bedside rounds (87%), medication education (79%), documentation (71%), and coordinating discharge medications (58%). Similar activities were reported during the other phases, but participation was less common. The involvement of dedicated transplant pharmacists within multidisciplinary care has become standard at a large number of centers, although expansion is still needed to ensure core pharmaceutical care components are provided to all transplant recipients across all centers. These results inform on the typical responsibilities of pharmacists practicing within the field of transplantation and illustrate that the level of pharmacist involvement significantly varies across transplant centers and the phases of transplantation.