Burnout a big problem among pharmacy technicians in SG

Burnout is very common among pharmacy technicians (PT) in Singapore, and is driven mainly by heavy workload, poor social support, and low resilience, according to a recent study.

“PTs are an essential part of the healthcare workforce, and this study has brought to surface the high incidence of burnout in this poorly studied group,” the researchers said. “Burnout in healthcare is not just caused by individual factors; workplace, organizational, and national efforts need to be consolidated to tackle this high level of burnout.”

The cross-sectional survey included 725 PTs (mean age 34.0 years, 85.5 percent women) working in patient care areas, such as hospitals, primary and secondary care institutions, and retail pharmacies. The Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) and the Brief Resilience scale were used to quantify burnout and resilience, respectively. Logistic regression was also performed to identify predisposing factors.

More than half of the respondents (52.0 percent; n=377) had burnout, defined as the presence of either high emotional exhaustion (EE) or high depersonalization (DP), or both. Low personal accomplishment (PA), defined as scoring ≤33 on the appropriate MBI-HSS domain, was the most frequent manifestation of burnout, reported in 53.7 percent. This was followed by high EE (46.2 percent) and high DP (31.9 percent). [J Am Pharm Assoc 2022;62:86-94.e4]

Notably, nearly three-fourths (72.1 percent) of participants satisfied at least one subdomain of burnout; around a fifth (19.2 percent) satisfied all three domains—PA, EE, and DP.

Regression analysis revealed that burnout was significantly more likely to occur in younger PTs (32.0 vs 37.0 years; p<0.001; odds ratio [OR] per additional year of age, 0.96, 95 percent confidence interval [CI]; p=0.009). Those who were married were less likely to report burnout (32.6 percent vs 47.4 percent; p<0.001), particularly as regards DP (OR, 0.64; p=0.041).

Moreover, PTs with a pharmacy-related certification were less likely to report burnout (34.8 percent vs 46.0 percent; p=0.002), while burnout was more common among less experienced PTs (median years of experience, 6 vs 9; p=0.001) and those who were engaged in more overtime work (median, 2 vs 1 hour; p=0.008). Regression analysis confirmed that longer total work hours increased the likelihood of EE (OR, 1.04; p=0.022).

Scores on the resilience scale were significantly lower among PTs with burnout (3.1 vs 3.4; p<0.001). Regression linked low resilience with greater likelihood of burnout (OR, 3.72), high EE (OR, 3.69), high DP (OR, 2.26), and low PA (OR, 2.86; p<0.001 for all).

In turn, PTs with burnout reported significantly lower job satisfaction, worse sleep quality, and higher self-diagnoses of mental conditions after starting pharmacy work. Burnout also urged PTs to consider changing jobs or made them feel that they wanted to leave their current job within 1 year.

“In our study, official work hours and additional overtime are both significantly associated with burnout, with longer total time spent at work specifically increasing the odds of high EE. This may also explain why the top self-reported reason for burnout was work overload or inadequate staffing,” the researchers said.

“Holistic organizational solutions integrating better welfare incentives, remuneration, and manpower strategies to improve working hours may be instrumental to alleviate burnout in PTs,” they added.