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Marianne F Ivey, Tyler A Vest, Kellie L E Musch, Linda Tyler, Sustainability: The long-term effect of maintaining high-level performance and resiliency throughout a career, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, Volume 80, Issue 23, 1 December 2023, Pages 1704–1707, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/zxad214
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The purpose of this article is to discuss with new pharmacy practitioners/leaders, and review with established leaders, the sources, impact, and mitigation of severe workplace stress that can lead to less-than-effective performance or even departure from a career.
Most pharmacists likely chose healthcare as a career because they like helping people, believe in using the scientific method, and enjoy working with colleagues in a clinical environment. The clinical environment is challenging, and practitioners and leaders with continuing, successful careers have achieved success by being accountable for their responsibilities, being able to handle adverse outcomes with emotional intelligence and appropriate responses, and identifying and dealing with sources of stress inherent to complex environments. These leaders, who, consciously or subconsciously, identify pharmacy services as a calling rather than a job, now have more resources, tools, and support to address issues in sustaining high-level performance, resilience, and well-being.
Pharmacy services are provided in a challenging environment that is often complex, information intensive, demanding of accuracy and speed, unpredictable, and sometimes urgent in terms of protecting well-being and life. These challenges set up stressors that can be useful, constant, and low grade or sometimes episodic and significant.1 Stressors in the work environment often add to those from outside work arising from living situations, and these can sometimes compound each other. What are the key behaviors needed to be accountable, handle adversity, and be resilient to the stress that comes with a challenging work environment? Unless sources of severe stress are recognized and addressed and resilience is maintained, performance can begin to be affected.2,3 Examples of the effects of stress on performance include effects on focus and concentration, memory, and emotional responses, as well as disengagement. Decline in physical health, potential absenteeism, disruption or withdrawal from networks and relationships, and/or family disruption can occur. The effects on performance as listed above threaten the mission of our work and increase the stress of our colleagues, our personal relationships in and out of the work environment, and our families.
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