Stressful Workplace Flashcards
(14 cards)
What causes workplace stress?
Arise when there is an imbalance between the demands of the job, the control individuals can exert over their work, and the support individual recieve.
What are some negative consequences of workplace stress?
Major cause of occupational ill health (mental and physical), poor productivity, and human error
May also affect the quality and safety of patient care
What are some examples of pharmacy workplace stressors?
High prescription volumes and workloads leading to a lower standard of work and low job satisfaction.
Inadequate break time, workflow interruption, poorly designed dispensary layouts, insufficient staffing levels
Challenging patient encounters (increased expectations and lack of civility among population)
Excessive documentation, and tight regulatory compliance requirements
Feelings of reduced competency due to the mismatches between education, role, and daily tasks (esp. among new grads)
Expanding scope of practice without the necessary changes in the work setting (role of pharmacy techs increasing and picking up more of the technical aspects of pharmacy)
What are some examples of role-conflict experienced by pharmacists?
Expansion of corporate and non-pharmacist ownership within community practice has meant an increasing focus on business processes and goals
Historically loer levels of profrssional autonomy relative to other health profession groups = less able to successful resolve this conflict and experience workplace stress (making them more susceptible to burnout)
What is workplace burnout?
Defined by the WHO as an occupational phenomenon that occurs when chronic stress is ineffectively managed
A psychological response to work-related stress that presents as increased emotional exhaustion and depersonalism, reduced feelings of personal accomplishment
What is the impact of burnout?
Health systems (reduce prodictivity and increased turnover)
Care providers (reduced psychological and physical wellbeing)
Patient care (reduced quality of care)
What are some risk factors for pharmacist burnout?
Working full time/longer hours worked per week
Younger age/less professional experience
High prescription/patient volumes
Increased workload
Poor work/life balance
Too many non-clinical/administrative duties
Additional professional/leadership role
See slide 11
What are some strategies to mitigate burnout?
Involvement in patient education & peer training
Being a tutor to a pharmacy student (but may also risk burnout if too many students)
Time away from work
Social interactions and hobbies
Access to burnout management resources
Awareness of or access to wellness programs
What is resilience?
The ability to recover from adversity, trauma, tragedy, or threats
What are some qualities of resilient people?
They are open-minded, more adaptable to change, and more emotionally stable when faced with stress
What are some elements of emotional inteligence?
Self-awareness (understand own emotions)
Social awareness (understand the emotions of others)
Self-management (regulate your emotions)
Ability to manage interpersonal relationships (via team-work, organizational commitment, and effective communication)
What is the relationship between pharmacies and pharmacists?
Growing concentration of community pharmacy ownership into the hands of a few companies have reduced the ability of pharmacists to negotiate
Pharmacists have little or no ability to mitigate higher workloads and declining incomes
What is the purpose of collective action?
Unions create monopoly for those selling their labour as a response to labour market monopsony
