SCCM Resource Library-41-Relationship Between Critical Care Clinical Pharmacist Activities and Burnout Syndrome

Video Transcription

Hello everyone. My name is Susan Smith. I'm a clinical assistant professor at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy in Athens, Georgia, and I practice at a mixed medical  surgical ICU at Piedmont Athens Regional. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk  to you about our research today. I'll be discussing our research on the relationship between critical  care clinical pharmacist activities and burnout. Neither myself nor my co-investigators have  any conflicts of interest to disclose. SECM and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy published a position paper on critical care pharmacy services in 2000 that classified  pharmacist activities as fundamental, desirable, or optimal. Fundamental activities include some of the core pharmacist responsibilities like identifying adverse drug events and  monitoring pharmacokinetics. Desirable activities include things like reading updated literature,  documenting interventions, and rounding with an interdisciplinary team. And optimal activities  include things like developing a new pharmacy service, publishing research, or teaching advanced cardiovascular life support. The amount of time and effort that pharmacists  spend in each of these categories of activities has not been classified previously. It's also unclear whether the time and effort spent on these activities may have any relationship  with burnout. The purpose of our study was to explore the relationship between pharmacy  services provided and the incidence of burnout among critical care pharmacists. We hypothesized  that greater time and effort spent on optimal services would be associated with decreased  burnout. We conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey that was administered via the Qualtrics  platform. The survey asked 13 questions assessing baseline characteristics of pharmacists as well as their position and their institution. We asked 11 questions assessing the types  of activities they performed. And we asked the 24 questions associated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey for medical professionals. The survey was distributed  to the ACCP Critical Care Practice and Research Network in May and June of 2020. And a $5 electronic gift card was offered to respondents as compensation for their time. Our primary  outcome was the number of activities performed in each category. And secondary outcomes included  the relationship between activities performed and the experience of burnout syndrome. 221  respondents completed the survey, which was a 14.5% response rate. The majority of respondents  had two or more years of postgraduate training. And respondents represented academic medical centers, community teaching hospitals, as well as community non-teaching hospitals.  Respondents performed a median of 13 different fundamental activities out of 18 assessed.  They performed a median of 11 desirable activities out of 16 assessed and 6 optimal activities  out of 12 assessed. The Maslach Burnout Inventory provides a score of emotional exhaustion,  depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. As has been done in prior studies, we define burnout as an emotional exhaustion score of 27 or higher or a depersonalization score  of 10 or higher. As you can see, burnout was common, occurring in nearly 60% of survey respondents. Pharmacists that experienced burnout performed more activities in each  category than those that did not experience burnout. Not surprisingly, pharmacists experiencing  burnout were more likely to hold other roles, such as a manager or a residency program director,  and they were also more likely to perform other activities, such as precepting, research,  or committee work. We performed a binary logistic regression to identify factors that were independently  associated with burnout. Increased census of ICU patients, the number of other roles performed, and the number of desirable activities performed were associated with increased risk  of burnout. The number of optimal activities, on the other hand, was associated with decreased  risk of burnout, and interestingly, the number of hours worked per week had no association  with burnout. The study establishes a relationship between higher patient volumes, engagement  in additional professional roles, and burnout syndrome. The study had several limitations, including the potential for selection bias, the distribution in May of 2020 in the heart  of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as using a definition of burnout that, although widely used, may have some flaws. It should also be noted that the position statement on critical  care pharmacy services was updated in 2020, shortly after administering our survey. While  the construct of pharmacy services was modified some, about 80% of the statements in the 2000 statement are included in the 2020 update as well. We found that desirable activities  were associated with increased odds of burnout, and optimal activities were associated with  decreased burnout. It's possible that the higher level optimal activities, such as developing  a new service or teaching ACLS, bring greater personal satisfaction to a critical care pharmacist  than the day-to-day desirable activities, such as documenting interventions or reading updated literature. Future research should delve into the types and the quality of pharmacist  activities and should develop strategies to enhance workplace engagement and to minimize burnout. I'd like to thank my co-investigators, Aubrey Slaughter, who is one of our students  and now PGY1 resident, as well as Mitchell Buckley, Rob McLaren, and one of my colleagues at the University of Georgia, Andrea Newsom. Thank you all for taking the time to listen  to my presentation, and once again, really appreciate this opportunity to share our research,  and I welcome any questions or comments. Please feel free to reach out to me via email or Twitter, both of which are supplied on the slides.

Video Summary

The video transcript discusses a research study on the relationship between critical care clinical pharmacist activities and burnout. The study aimed to explore whether the time and effort spent on different pharmacist activities had any correlation with burnout. A survey was administered to critical care pharmacists, and the results showed that burnout was common, occurring in nearly 60% of respondents. Pharmacist activities in the desirable category were associated with increased burnout, while activities in the optimal category, such as developing new services or teaching, were associated with decreased burnout. The study suggests the need for further research on pharmacist activities and strategies to minimize burnout.

Asset Subtitle

Behavioral Health and Well Being, Professional Development and Education, 2021

Asset Caption

The Society of Critical Care Medicine's Critical Care Congress features internationally renowned faculty and content sessions highlighting the most up-to-date, evidence-based developments in critical care medicine. This is a presentation from the 2021 Critical Care Congress held virtually from January 31-February 12, 2021.

Susan Elizabeth Smith

Introduction/Hypothesis: A SCCM/American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) position paper outlines fundamental (e.g., pharmacokinetic monitoring, identify adverse drug events), desirable (e.g., read updated literature, document interventions), and optimal (e.g., develop new pharmacy services, publish research) services of critical care pharmacists. The effort an individual pharmacist spends on these services and how this may affect pharmacist satisfaction has not been characterized. We hypothesized that greater effort spent on optimal services would be associated with lower rates of burnout syndrome.

Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey was distributed to members of the ACCP Critical Care Practice and Research Network in April 2020. The survey assessed individual/institutional demographics, pharmacist activities, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The number of activities performed in each category (fundamental, desirable, optimal) was calculated and their relationship with burnout was assessed in binary logistic regression controlling for potentially confounding variables.

Results: The survey was completed by 221 critical care pharmacists. Respondents performed an average of 12Â±4 fundamental activities (of 18 assessed), 10Â±4 desirable activities (of 16 assessed), and 6Â±2 optimal activities (of 12 assessed). Nearly 60% of respondents (n=128) experienced burnout. After controlling for patient census, hours worked, teaching status of hospital, and number of other roles and responsibilities, the number of desirable activities performed was associated with increased risk of burnout (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.12 â€“ 1.76) while the number of optimal activities performed was associated with decreased risk of burnout (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.60 â€“ 0.96) and fundamental activities had no association.

Conclusions: Completion of desirable activities was associated with increased odds of burnout whereas optimal activities were associated with decreased burnout. A possibility exists that the higher-level optimal activities bring greater personal satisfaction to a critical care pharmacist than the day-to-day desirable activities. Future research should examine methods of increasing workload in the optimal activity while adequately distributing the fundamental and desirable workload.

Meta Tag

Content Type Presentation

Knowledge Area Professional Development and Education

Knowledge Area Behavioral Health and Well Being

Knowledge Level Intermediate

Knowledge Level Advanced

Learning Pathway Behavioral Health and Burnout

Membership Level Select

Tag Communication

Tag Administration

Tag Well Being

Year 2021

Keywords

critical care clinical pharmacist

burnout

research study

pharmacist activities

survey

Professional Development and Education

Communication

Administration

Presentation

Select

2021

Behavioral Health and Well Being

Well Being

Intermediate

Advanced

Behavioral Health and Burnout

	Society of Critical Care Medicine 500 Midway Drive Mount Prospect, IL 60056 USA Phone: +1 847 827-6888 Fax: +1 847 439-7226 Email: support@sccm.org	Contact Us About SCCM Newsroom Advertising & Sponsorship DONATE	MySCCM LearnICU Patients & Families Surviving Sepsis Campaign Critical Care Societies Collaborative	GET OUR NEWSLETTER
© Society of Critical Care Medicine. All rights reserved. \| Privacy Statement \| Terms & Conditions The Society of Critical Care Medicine, SCCM, and Critical Care Congress are registered trademarks of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.