It’s time to take inventory
Bryan Gomez is a second-year PharmD candidate at The University of Georgia College of Pharmacy.
About 40–60% of pharmacists are experiencing burnout due to systemic challenges in health care, and an increasing number of pharmacy personnel report poor well-being postpandemic.1,2 Together, these put both pharmacy personnel themselves and their patients at risk of harm in the process, making it more important than ever to pause and reflect on our individual well-being.1,2 It’s challenging, though, to know what a “normal” state of well-being looks like for a high-stakes, high-workload profession—or, better yet, whether “normal” is even healthy to begin with.
Enter the Well-Being Index for Pharmacy Personnel (WBI)—one of a handful of resources supported by APhA to address well-being—which screens for burnout and distress, and provides tangible recommendations for improving quality of life.3,4 The anonymous, free, and evidence-based5 9-question online tool provides you with an individualized WBI score. But you receive more than just a score. Your results are contextualized alongside results from other health care professionals and enhanced by a dashboard of related metrics and resources for understanding and bettering your well-being.
Not a one-and-done assessment
I decided to take the assessment for the first time this summer, and I learned a few things about both myself and the tool.
1. My WBI is average and typical of that of other pharmacy personnel, but “normal” doesn’t inherently mean “healthy.” My risk of making a medication error due to fatigue and burnout over the next 3 months is 20%, and my likelihood of experiencing significant burnout over the next 24 months assuming no change to my behavior is nearly 40%.
2. The WBI tool isn’t meant to be a “one-and-done” assessment. Rather, it’s a recurring opportunity for reflection, designed to be taken at regular intervals to assess changes to your well-being over time. The tool encourages you to set up automatic email reminders every 1, 3, or 6 months to kindly nudge you to reassess at appropriate intervals. I’m choosing to receive reminders every month in light of my high risk of burnout.
3. APhA members and student pharmacists can utilize association-specific and partner content to help improve well-being at little to no cost. APhA, for example, has multiple CPE training modules related to strategies for optimizing personal well-being, and students can get full premium access to Headspace, the leading mindfulness and meditation app, for just $0.83 per month.
Join me in assessing our well-being
As I undergo a life transition over the next few weeks—ending a full-time internship in Washington, DC, and moving back to Georgia to resume pharmacy school full time—I’m especially cognizant of how liable I am to experience changes in my well-being. As the summer comes to a close and you get ready to start another semester (or, perhaps, a new APPE rotation in a new city or a different part-time job to support yourself financially through school), I imagine the same could be true of you, too.
With new data to inform my decision-making, I’ll be delegating several student organization–related responsibilities to others and working with my employer to build an intentional work schedule that balances my personal and school needs alongside my financial and professional needs over the next few weeks.
For the sustainability and longevity of your career, I encourage you to join me—and the more than 10,000 pharmacy personnel (including student pharmacists) who have been assessed—in taking the WBI assessment monthly to equip yourself with the information you need to make healthy decisions about your own well-being and make a plan for the upcoming semester.
References
- Smith DP. The striking, startling realities of pharmacist burnout. Chicago: University of Illinois Chicago Campus. Available at: pharmacy.uic.edu/news-stories/startling-realities-pharmacist-burnout. Accessed August 9, 2023.
- Padgett EH, Grantner GR. Pharmacist burnout and stress. US Pharm. 2020:45(5):HS2-HS-10.
- APhA. Well-Being Index for Pharmacy Personnel. Washington, DC: APhA. Available at: www.pharmacist.com/Advocacy/Well-Being-and-Resiliency/Well-being-Index-for-Pharmacy-Personnel. Accessed August 9, 2023.
- APhA. You’re committed to pharmacy. We’re committed to your well-being. Washington, DC: APhA. Available at: www.pharmacist.com/wellbeing. Accessed August 9, 2023.
- Skrupky LP, West CP, Shanafel T, et al. Ability of the Well-Being Index to identify pharmacists in distress. JAPhA. 2023;60(6):906914.