The study of the level of burnout of pharmacists as the consequences of conflicts in the workplace

Abstract

Purpose of the study. To study the level of burnout of pharmacists and the factors affecting the syndrome. Materials and methods . The study was conducted by methods of questioning and testing 385 pharmacists in Perm at the age of 21 to 56 years with experience of professional activity from 1 month to 37 years using standardized test methods: «Maslach Burnout Inventory» (authors Maslach K. and Jackson S. In adaptation Vodopyanova N. E.) and «Thomas-Kilmann conflict MODE instrument», adapted Grishina N. V. with subsequent statistical processing of the results in the program Statistica 8.0. Pearson correlation analysis and Student t-test were applied. Results and discussion . The analysis showed fairly high levels of pharmacists’ burnout and its components (36,10% – high, 50,39% – medium and 13,5% of respondents – low). High levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were observed in 38,2% and 29,87% of respondents, respectively. A decrease in the sense of self-competence and satisfaction with their professional achievements (reduction of professional achievements) was noted in almost half of the respondents (44,4%). A direct relationship between the frequency of conflicts with emotional exhaustion (r=0,29) and the integral index of burnout (r=0,27) at p<0,05 was established. By means of the correlation analysis the factors influencing a burnout are established: satisfaction with a profession and job satisfaction (inverse dependence between level of burnout and satisfaction with a profession and job satisfaction (r=-0,48 and r=-0,52 respectively; p < 0,05). A comparative analysis of the Student t-test showed higher rates of satisfaction with the profession and job satisfaction (t-criterion -3,97; p = 0,0001 and -5,99; p=0,0000, respectively) and lower rates of workplace conflict (t-criterion 2,75; p=0,007) in respondents with low syndrome. Conclusion. A high level of burnout, including all three of its components, has been established, which negatively affects the health of the pharmacists, the provision of pharmaceutical care to the patients and the results of the pharmacy. The importance of satisfaction in profession and job satisfaction as factors influencing a burnout of pharmacists is confirmed. To prevent and reduce the risk of developing the syndrome it is necessary to create conditions to form a conflict competence of pharmacists, as well as their commitment, loyalty to the functions performed and the profession as a whole.