Introduction
Introduction
According to the World Health Organization, a healthy job is one where pressure on employees is “appropriate in relation to their abilities and resources, to the amount of control they have over their work, and to the support they receive from people who matter to them”.
Pharmacists, like other healthcare professionals, enter their career to care for patients. Yet internationally, nurses, doctors, teachers and pharmacists are reporting issues affecting wellbeing at work, with some noting a steady increase since the onset of the Covid pandemic. More recent developments like the cost of living crisis will also have an impact on anxiety levels.
Looking at our own sector, the 2022 Workforce Wellbeing Survey by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Pharmacist Support paints a worrying picture:
- 96 per cent of community pharmacists are at high risk of burnout
- 45 per cent report poor or very poor mental health
- 84 per cent report inadequate staffing levels in their pharmacy
- 73 per cent of all pharmacists have considered leaving their job or the profession altogether because of their work’s impact on their mental health
- 53 per cent report a lack of work-life balance, while 42 per cent report long working hours.
Across almost all measures in the survey, community pharmacists reported worse wellbeing and higher workplace pressures than colleagues in other sectors.
Optimum pressure
Hours worked per week, time spent as sole pharmacist, number of prescriptions dispensed where the pharmacist was personally involved, number and types of interactions pharmacists have with others on a typical day.
Managing medicine supply and dispensing, professional and clinical services and administration, patient consultations.
Time spent managing people and assets, administration, achieving targets and KPIs.
Workloads continue to increase as community pharmacists assume new roles with expanding contractual requirements and an increased volume of dispensed prescriptions. While we can measure prescription volume and hours worked, we often forget about the impact of ‘mental workload’.
Pharmacist Support chief executive Danielle Hunt says the 2022 Wellbeing Survey findings “highlight the impact work environments and working conditions have on mental health… as well as the strategic plans needed to address the root cause of some of the workplace issues highlighted, we believe that there is an immediate need for employers to consider what they can do to support positive wellbeing”.
While there are some pockets of research in this area, the impact of mental workload needs further investigation. How often do you think about your mental workload?