It's a cyclical effect: turnover leads to worsening burnout for the remaining staff left behind, not only fueling more resignations, but the potential for dangerous mistakes. Pharmacy Burnout and Patient Safety The Pharmacy Well-Being Index, a tool developed by the Mayo Clinic, reflects this state of burnout. Among pharmacy technicians, in 2023, 44% report- ed being either “distressed” or “struggling.” Occupational burnout is such a serious phenome- non that the World Health Organization classifies it within the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). And it spreads like wildfire among organi- zations, with pharmacists impacted as well when technicians fall like dominoes. The ICD classification of burnout includes three key dimensions: emotional exhaustion, deperson- alization, and a decreased sense of personal ac- complishment. This trifecta is easily reached in sce- narios where pharmacy technicians are chronically perilously close to a personal financial crisis while at the same time worrying about upholding a stan- dard of performance that reflects the responsibility that comes with the role. It’s well-known in healthcare that occupational burnout results in a higher rate of dangerous errors. That seems to be playing out in pharmacies across the country, with cases involving pharmacy giants that are costing them millions in penalties. While error rates are variable depending on the point of the pharmacy workflow they occur in, just one seri- ous error can have a crushing emotional impact on the staff involved. As Jerominski observes, “I think it’s a crisis that is a result of how companies operate, and it’s a fabricat- ed crisis that they could easily address if they start- ed staffing appropriately, and if they started paying technicians commensurate with their skill set and didn’t have constant turnover.” This constant turnover results in a revolving door of new staff, with the need to retrain them, leading to an ongoing practice of staffing pharmacies with technicians who are less experienced with compa- ny-specific workflows, insurance reimbursement, and other details. And those challenges are a large part of what makes pharmacies unsafe. It also fur- ther contributes to burnout as more experienced staff steps in to fill the knowledge gaps. Occupational burnout is enough on its own, but in healthcare there’s a secondary burnout — moral
WHERE ARE THE PHARMACY TECHNICIANS? Why are there so many job openings? It’s a com- mon misconception that it’s a simple as a lack of available technicians, but the problem is far more complex than that. “I think the biggest reason why there is a crisis in pharmacy is really surrounded by technicians who are the backbone of every pharmacy in every prac- tice setting across the country,” notes Shane Je- rominski, a licensed pharmacist with 17 years of ex- perience and a co-founder of The Pharmacy Guild, an organization that launched in 2023 to spear- head unionizing and advocacy efforts within the pharmacy industry. “Because technicians in retail do not make a livable wage in most cases, and are not even guaranteed 40 hours, they are constantly looking for the door, because they have to.” The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics currently reports that the median salary for pharmacy technicians sits at $19 per hour. In contrast, administrative as- sistants, mechanics, and plumbers can all expect to make more, in some cases substantially more. It’s not a selling point for a job that is as high stress as the pharmacy technician role. This became es- pecially true in the time directly after the COVID-19 pandemic, when finding alternate employment that was less stressful, yet paid a high wage, was more easily within reach.
CPhT CONNECT
www.cphtconnect.com 22
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting