Four in five pharmacists at high risk of burnout; many reconsider career, survey reveals
A new survey has revealed that 80 per cent pharmacists are at high or very high risk of burnout because of exhaustion, with over half of them thinking of a career switch.
The survey conducted by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Pharmacist Support details the shocking impact of workplace pressures on pharmacists’ mental health.
Nearly three-quarters of the pharmacists said their training or working life has had an impact on their mental health and well being at some point.
More worryingly, some 44 per cent are concerned about potentially making mistakes or providing poor quality service to their patients.
“It’s incredibly tough in frontline practice right now. Demands are increasing and resources are scarce. This is not specific to one sector but impacts pharmacists wherever they work,” said Sandra Gidley, RPS President.
Gidley repeated the organization’s call for equal access to an NHS-funded support service for all pharmacists. At present, only the pharmacists employed directly by the NHS get access to help.
“The Government must address this as a matter of urgency. The NHS is at risk of creating workforce inequalities by providing support service for some staff and not others,” she said.
Responding to the survey, one in five pharmacists each quoted lack of support staff and unrealistic expectations from their manager or organization as the key reason for workplace pressures.
Commenting on the research results, Danielle Hunt, Pharmacists Support Chief Executive said the charity will work with RPS to find more ways to provide funded support.
“At Pharmacist Support, we hear from people every day struggling to deal with the pressures faced at work, so sadly we are not surprised by the statistics around stress and burnout revealed through this survey. Unfortunately for some, by the time they reach out for help, they have already reached crisis point,” Hunt said.
RPS and Pharmacists Support said the organizations will use the evidence to campaign for NHS-funded well being support for all pharmacists.
The organizations will also publish a more detailed analysis in Spring 2020 to inform a round table with the NHS, government, employers and others to identify solutions.
According to the statement made in the article “mistakes” are separate and distinct from “poor service”. Getting healthcare workers to continuously functions at ABOVE 100% is most certainly a formula for mistakes and poor service. Could those two issues cause some pts to have poor outcomes ? This article appears to be from England, but the USA is having the same problems.. to few healthcare dollars to provide proper staffing and proper care for pts.
Filed under: General Problems
I don’t see Vivitrol helping a TRUE opiate addict except to keep them constantly craving. And “as the blockade wanes or after missing a dose or discontinuing treatment” then yes! It REALLY could result in an opioid overdose.
This page links to the “Bad Ad Program”. They care products advertising are not misleading, …obviously that doesn’t not include what Andrew Kolodny, PROP OR the CDC Guidelines on Opioid Prescribing or Prosecuting AGs say.
What are the goals of the Bad Ad Program?
“The program seeks to increase the effectiveness of OPDP’s (Oregon Prescription Drug Program?, not defined) surveillance program, especially with regard to curtailing inappropriate promotional activities of sales representatives visiting the offices of health care professionals and delivering presentations to health care professionals during industry-sponsored dinner and speaker presentations.”
Proof the FDA was determined to love the false narrative since “10/09/2014”, LONG before the same thing was used as a major accusation at the J&J Trial. Can you really get a doc to use your medicine for a tasty table full of food? The FDA says “YES”.
Ack! This response is for the “FDA issues warning letter…” post here.
This sounds the same as a chronic pain patients daily life Hoping that we will continue to get scripts for pain medicine.If we do get it will our pharmacy have medication in stock? If we get script an are lucky with our pharmacy,will our insurance continue to pay? That in a nutshell is what C.P.P. deal with every month.Someone needs to man up an state they have gotten everything wrong with this supposed “crisis” It has a “domino effect” and it is hurting everyone!!