Pharmacists examine risks, remedies for burnout.

Abstract

A recent survey of critical care pharmacists finds a high degree of burnout syndrome and suggests that the problem can affect practitioners at the start of their career. “It’s the practitioners of less than 5 years—that’s who you really have to worry about,” said Amanda M. Ball, clinical manager of clinical and patient care services at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. Ball presented results from a nationwide survey of burnout syndrome in critical care pharmacists during a poster session at ASHP’s 2018 Midyear Clinical Meeting in Anaheim, California. The survey found that 64% of 193 respondents met criteria for a high degree of burnout. Ball said that figure seemed high but is perhaps unsurprising in critical-care settings. “There’s a lot of quick decision making that needs to be done, there’s a lot of life and death,” she said. “There are often these high periods of go-go-go intensity where you don’t have time to stop, you don’t have time to take a break, to eat, to do anything. Because patients need you.”