By Tom Fung

Ask any pharmacist how they are doing, and the answer usually ranges from: “I’m pretty tired”, “It’s endless work”, or “It’s the same thing every day”. If you ask the same question to a student, it’s the same thing with one added answer: “I can’t wait to be done and to start working”.

Burnout...that physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that plagues most healthcare professionals is rampant among pharmacists in all workplaces. It’s been a growing issue and topic among the pharmacy circles whether it’s articles, discussion boards or just within the workplace. Because of this, techniques and practices to remedy and preserve a pharmacist’s well-being are starting to be shared. 

However, there is one topic that has yet to be addressed. The pharmacy student faces the same issues and, more often than not, many of them believe that it’s somehow going to change after they enter the workforce. Among US pharmacists, a study found a rate of burnout of up to 64%. Among pharmacy students, rates between 40-60% have been reported in multiple studies. Is this it then? Are pharmacy students destined for burnout from the moment they step foot through the doors of their school?

are you burntout?

I realized I was suffering from burnout while I was lying in bed after a long day. I had just finished a long 8 hour shift in a high-volume pharmacy during one of my rotations. During my shift, we were pummeled by endless OTC questions, handling patients asking why there was a shortage of a specific medication and juggling an insurance call, all while I was lost attempting to translate what I learned in school to actual practice. I asked my pharmacist if it gets any better, in which they responded “You get better at handling it”.

I came home expecting to relax but ended up in a meeting for another job I work for as an online contractor followed by another one for school extracurriculars. As I laid in bed, I was torn. Here I was, pursuing and practicing the career I’ve longed  for...but the only thing on my mind was dreading to get up and do the same thing tomorrow. 

you’re not alone

As I continued throughout school, I realized I wasn’t a unique case. All the students around me were grinding. Many of them were constantly studying, trying to get the best marks in school while concurrently working as assistants in pharmacy as well as completing any side projects for professors or other extracurriculars to build their resume.

Unfortunately, all of us were surrounded by an inherently competitive environment. How busy we were was almost considered a score for how far we’ve progressed in our short careers. Among the upper years, and it’s a mindset I’ve adopted for a while, the common phrase for how we’ve changed during our education was “I’ve become more cynical” and it’s something that is repeated by many pharmacists. 

There seems to be a dedicated track for burnout among students and pharmacists. From the beginning, students are already experiencing burnout from the combination of high-level education and additional demands to grow through their jobs and extracurriculars. Furthermore, the topic of burnout is taboo and rarely talked about, a phenomenon that even plagues pharmacists in their careers. These factors, combined with the fact that students usually immediately dive into their jobs and careers after their education leads to almost endless burnout and no time to recharge. 

What are the consequences of this? The harms have been well documented among professionals and among students. In a study of physician burnout, affected clinicians had an increased risk of patient safety incidents. Away from the direct effects on patient safety and sub-optimal care, personally, burnout can lead to chronic anger, anxiety, forgetfulness, lack of motivation and even a greater risk for suicide. For me as a student, the lack of motivation hit hardest. I found it difficult to strive for higher marks,to go to class and to continue in my extracurriculars. It was difficult to find passion in the profession anymore. 

The cure for burnout?

There was and is no easy solution but it’s important to realize that the issue is both individual and systemic. For me, I found solace in first acknowledging the burnout. This is commonly mentioned in many articles regarding burnout but it must be emphasized. For me, it was also realizing that those who were already very much in their careers, those who I looked up to as being successful (or those who I held in high esteem), were often struggling with the same thing. Next was finding new passions and investing myself into those. It’s easy to blindly join extracurriculars and side-projects but it can quickly turn from contributing to burnout to relieving it. Ensuring that the initiatives you invest in are inherently rewarding becomes essential in surviving your pharmacy career.

Finally, find a balance in your life. While pharmacy as a career and profession can be a passion, it’s important to recharge and take an active role in balancing it against your social life. 

There are no easy fixes on a systemic scale. There is an obvious epidemic of burnout plaguing both students and pharmacists. However, given it occurs so early on, the solutions for pharmacists have to be applied as early as the moment students start their education. Burnout needs to be an openly-discussed topic that is addressed throughout the curriculum. Students need to have access to more resources and services that help them cope with their stress and align their priorities. They need to be equipped and prepared to handle everything their career will throw at them. 

The approach to pharmacist burnout should be similar to how we practice. The focus should not be on reactive treatment but proactive prevention.