Tips to deal with burnout for pharmacists

 

Burnout rate for pharmacists is high.

With increasing workloads, staff shortages, and high patient demands, pharmacists face multiple challenges that increase the risk factors of burnout.

Burnout not only impacts your wellbeing, but it could negatively affect your patients.

So, how can you avoid burnout?

 

What is the burnout rate for pharmacists?

The burnout rate for pharmacists is high.

Studies have shown between 51% and 79% of participants indicated a high degree of burnout with feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced personal accomplishment.

Burnout amongst pharmacists also indicated that most were female, and community pharmacy based.

The stress pharmacists face has also led to 56% of respondents saying they considered leaving the profession.

 

What is burnout?

While burnout is not considered a medical condition, it is classed by the World Health Organisation as an occupational phenomenon.

It is classed as a syndrome which means it creates symptoms or signs with a specific health-related cause.

Burnout is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion caused by long-term stress.

 

What are the symptoms of burnout?

While the symptom of burnout varies depending on the source, they have much in common.

Burnout may be hard to recognise as it can develop over time but psychologists Gail North and Herbert Freudenberger, state there are 12 stages of burnout.

 

 

These include:

1. A need to prove yourself

This could make you strive for perfectionism.

 

2. Working harder

Not only may you work longer, try to take on everything yourself but you may also try to complete things as soon as possible.

 

3. Neglecting your needs

Your work/life balance may suffer, you may forget to take breaks at work and the stress of your work is seen as normal.

 

4. Relationship conflicts

Whether it’s with colleagues, friends, or your partner, you may find your relationships suffer. You may find you become forgetful and experience physical symptoms such as trouble sleeping.

 

5. Revision of values

You may find your perspective changes and you begin to lack empathy, putting your own goals above relationships.

 

6. Denial

You may experience cynicism, isolation from others, being impatient or angry.

 

7. Withdrawal

You don’t want to deal with others and don’t take critical feedback well. At this stage you may turn to unhealthy habits to deal with the stress such as drinking too much.

 

8. Behavioural changes

You begin to feel like you don’t care about anything and don’t undertake any additional responsibilities and work productivity could decrease.

 

9. Depersonalisation

Your sense of identity may be confused as work becomes your main focus. You may also neglect your health at this stage.

 

10. Feeling empty

Feelings of exhaustion, anxiety and even panic may appear at this stage.

 

11. Despair

You may have negative feelings towards yourself and feel depressed.

 

12. Total burnout

At this stage you have reached mental and emotional collapse.

 

How long can burnout last?

The length of experiencing burnout can vary greatly for different people. It could last weeks, months or even years.

 

How burnout impacts your pharmacy

Ironically, when you are working hard, forgetting to take breaks, and trying to do so much, instead of easing your workload and increasing productivity, it does the opposite.

Impacts on your pharmacy could include:

1. Decreased quality of patient care
2. Increased healthcare costs
3. Increased medical errors
4. Longer patient recovery times.

 

 

What is the biggest challenge pharmacists face?

So, why is there such a high rate of burnout among pharmacists?

There are a multitude of reason, including:

1. Volume of work and patients
2. Poor work/life balance
3. Issues with management
4. Staff shortages
5. Fear of making a mistake
6. Medicine shortages

 

Longer working hours, unsustainable workload, high patient and prescription volumes can all be risk factors for burnout for pharmacists.

The increased workload has a domino effect because pharmacists may not have time for breaks, which leads to working longer and having a poor work/life balance.

While these external factors are risk factors for burnout, so too are internal stressors such as fear of making a mistake. Medication errors can cause harm to your patients and the responsibility for this may cause stress.

 

How to deal with burnout

External factors such as staff shortages and the extra workload may seem uncontrollable but there are things that can help to curb burnout.

 

Tom Jepson, ICF ACC coach, at Tom Jepson Creative helps professionals deal with burnout. He says:

 

“Something I see a lot in my clients is when they succumb to the pressure of ‘I should be…’ or ‘I must do…’ or ‘I have to do…’. Of course, there are things in our work and lives that must be done but more often than not there is way more that can be controlled.

Working through alleviating burnout – especially in high-pressure, high-impact roles – begins with acknowledging that you are feeling the burn. Burying your head in the sand and ‘powering through’ is only going to end in some kind of disaster.

 

After that acknowledgement comes two decisions: one is that you want to change what’s happening and next is that you can change what’s happening. Two positive statements that say you can be in control of your situation.

It’s very important to look around you and understand what is going on; examining what you can change and what you cannot. Lastly, doing things one step at a time is paramount. You can’t rush.

 

Taking one step at a time means you are able to affect meaningful changes which will allow you to slow down both now and later, let some things go (remember the things which are within your control?), and then continue in a new way which does not as easily bring you to a place where you are cooked.

 

It isn’t easy but – with some introspection and then help from the outside – you can unwind from the burnout and set up for a smoother, easier road.”

 

Other ways to reduce burnout include:

 

• Self-care

Ensure you take time for yourself. Do things you enjoy and try to forget about work when you’re not there.

 

• Training

Education on burnout and how to reduce your risk of it should be made available to pharmacy staff. Staff should have access to burnout management resources as these are associated with lower rates of burnout.

 

• Delegate

You may feel like you have to take responsibility for a lot of things yourself but delegating tasks and varying your work is a good way to avoid burnout. Undertaking high yield activities and varying your daily tasks can help you feel more job satisfaction.

 

• Support

Having support from colleagues was found to be the most useful resource to manage stress. This could be colleagues in your pharmacy, or it could be other pharmacists. Being a pharmacist can be isolating and it is important to have peer relationships to avoid feeling alone.

 

 

 

• Regular breaks and time off

Having a good work/life balance is a good way to reduce burnout. Making sure work is not taking up the majority of your time and ensuring you take breaks and time off, allows you to refresh.

 

• Automation

Investing in pharmacy automation can help manage staff shortages and reduce repetitive tasks. Pharmacy automation can also help to give you peace of mind that you aren’t making mistakes with prescriptions.

 

How Edia can help

Edia support pharmacist to reduce their workload through pharmacy automation.

From blister packing machines that can be customised and increase accuracy to pouch packing machines that reduce checking time. And pharmacy collections machines that allow your patients to pick up their prescriptions 24/7h, saving you hours.

 

 

If you’ve any questions about our pharmacy automation machines, please get in touch.