WELL-BEING AND RESILIENCE OF THE PHARMACY WORKFORCE

To affirm that occupational burnout adversely affects an individual's well-being and healthcare outcomes; further,

To acknowledge that the healthcare workforce encounters unique stressors throughout their education, training, and careers that contribute to occupational burnout; further,

To declare that healthcare workforce well-being and resilience requires shared responsibility among healthcare team members and between individuals and organizations; further,

To provide resources to empower individuals and institutions to embrace well-being and resilience as a priority supported by organizational culture; further,

To promote that pharmacy leadership collaborate with their institutions to assess the well-being and resilience of the pharmacy workforce and identify effective prevention and intervention strategies; further,

To encourage hospitals and health systems to invest in the development and assessment of interprofessional programs that prevent occupational burnout while supporting well-being, and to support nonpunitive participation in these programs.

Rationale

Clinician burnout can have serious, wide-ranging consequences on individual clinicians and learners, health care organizations, and patient care. Occupational burnout is a syndrome characterized by a high degree of emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization (e.g., cynicism), and a low sense of personal accomplishment from work due to both internal and external factors. The results follow a 2018 study in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHP) that found 53 percent of health-system pharmacists self-reported a high degree of burnout caused by increasing stresses and demands. Occupational burnout affects today’s pharmacy workforce at unprecedented rates. At the individual level, pharmacy staff burnout can result in medication errors and increased patient harm. At the hospital or healthcare system level, the consequences of occupational burnout include disengagement, loss of productivity, and employee turnover, which can lead to inefficiency and financial problems for healthcare organizations. Stress in our clinical learning environment can affect all healthcare learners, with negative outcomes ranging from poor well-being to substance abuse to depression, even suicide. A 2017 AJHP article reported that pharmacy residents working more than 60 hours per week reported high levels of stress, depression, and hostility.

ASHP joined the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience in 2017. The goals of the Collaborative are to:

1. Raise the visibility of clinician anxiety, burnout, depression, stress, and suicide.
2. Improve baseline understanding of challenges to clinician well-being.
3. Advance evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions to improve patient care by caring for the caregiver.

The NAM Action Collaborative Conceptual Model depicts both individual and external factors affecting well-being and resilience and indicates that it requires a combined effort from the individual and the system to address and prevent occupational burnout.

Studies suggest that burnout is a problem of the entire healthcare organization as well as individual clinicians, so maintaining clinician well-being and resilience requires a combined effort by the individuals and their employers. To be successful, interventional programs must promote prevention, recognition, and treatment of burnout, and healthcare organizations must foster a culture that supports not just nonpunitive participation in these interprofessional programs but a sense of personal empowerment for developing and maintaining resilience. A healthcare organization with a resilient workforce will provide the best healthcare outcomes.

Supporting the well-being of the pharmacy workforce requires sustained attention and action at organizational, state, and national levels, as well as investment in research and information sharing to advance evidence-based solutions. A pharmacy workforce with the ability to thrive during adversity—a resilient workforce—is essential to combat burnout and support higher-quality care, increased patient safety, and improved patient satisfaction.