From 1997 to 2007, while the U.S. population rose 11 percent, the number of prescriptions filled in the nation increased 72 percent, and in 2008, U.S. retail pharmacies filled nearly 4 billion prescriptions, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

That's a lot of prescriptions, and they require a lot of pharmacists to fill them.

For the past decade, however, parts of Maryland, particularly its rural areas, have faced a pharmacist shortage, often necessitating long trips and long waits for patients to pick up medicine. In recent years, that shortage has eased in more populated parts of the state.

Responding to this shortage, the University of Maryland in 2007 began a doctorate of pharmacy distance-learning program at its Shady Grove campus in Rockville. The program is to graduate its first class in 2011.

The profession is generally well-paying. Last year, 8,859 pharmacists were employed in Maryland, according to LaVerne Naesea, executive director of the Maryland Board of Pharmacy, with salaries ranging from $90,000 to $120,000.

Since 2002, the number of pharmacists in Maryland has increased by nearly 2,000. And more are expected from the Universities at Shady Grove program, as 65 percent to 70 percent of graduates stay in Maryland, said Natalie Eddington, dean of the university's pharmacy school.

Distance learning means ‘hybrid delivery'

While the concept of "distance learning" often connotes a dull program devoid of human contact, that is no longer so. The program uses various technologies and resources in a "hybrid delivery," said Heather Brennan Congdon, assistant dean.

"We don't use one technology, but multiple," Congdon said, explaining that students interact with faculty at the main Baltimore campus via live video and audio feeds, and also use Internet videos and other tools.

The Shady Grove faculty members oversee labs and some electives, plus "a lot of case discussions and small-group activities," she said.

The multifaceted approach appeals to 21st-century students and is "fostering the way that we will educate for the next 100 years," Eddington said.

The Shady Grove program has added 40 new students to the university's pharmacy school, so the class of 2011 will graduate 160 students. The Shady Grove campus employs seven faculty members, with six full-time, including Congdon.

Congdon said a study she has supervised has shown no difference in the quality of education between the Baltimore and Shady Grove campuses. The study evaluated academic performance and the student experience, and looked at quizzes, exams, grade point averages, and introductory pharmacy practice experiences, she said. The results showed no statistically different outcomes between the two campuses.

Distance learning can work well for students who also hold a job, said Behzad Samari, a pharmacist at Vashan Compounding Pharmacy of Gaithersburg, who received his doctorate in pharmacy from Howard University.

"I did the online learning at Howard, and it worked out perfect for me," Samari said. "It was a lot of work but it gave me the opportunity as a family member to work a full-time job and pursue my pharmacy degree. I think it is very good for people who have to work full time."

‘Somewhat surreal when you first talk to them'

James L. Bresette is a pharmacist who mentors Shady Grove students as they approach graduation. So far, he has lectured from Baltimore using the new technology only once.

"I could see" the Shady Grove students "and they could see me," he said. "It's somewhat surreal when you first talk to them. ... After the first 30 minutes, I was feeling very comfortable."

Students can succeed academically through distance learning, Bresette said. But he worries that, together with a more diffuse student population with more varied lives, it may lead to a loss of "that sense of community, sense of class in the old bricks-and-mortar environment."

Still, distance learning is opening opportunities for new groups of students, including those working and with family commitments.

"You do allow people greater access to pharmacy school," Bresette said.

While the conventional program requires students to be on campus five days a week, the Shady Grove program requires only three days, according to Congdon.

More diverse roles

Pharmacists these days do not just dispense pills. They counsel patients who have disorders such as diabetes, asthma and heart conditions, and provide advice as they accompany doctors on their hospital rounds.

Beyond delivering "a handful of capsules," Bresette said, today's pharmacists "really get a chance to capitalize on their training."

Last year, only 41 percent of the pharmaceutical work force was "wholly devoted to dispensing product," with 43 percent in patient care and 16 percent in administration and teaching, according to Jon C. Schommer, a professor at the University of Minnesota's College of Pharmacy and an expert on the pharmacy work force.

"Pharmacists are now looked at as part of the medical team," Schommer said.

That expanded role will help reduce health care costs, according to Eddington.