Pharmacy work stress

Work stress in pharmacy can be exacerbated, precipitated, or made more likely if long-term stagnation is not addressed. As in all other areas of health care, prevention is always preferable to reacting after the problem has become serious. Stress is a function of demands, coping ability, skills, and supports. It can be divided into acute, chronic, mild, and severe and classified according to its source, organizational or personal. A clear or clean separation between personal life and work fife cannot be assumed, and many of the personal and family problems employees have affect workplace performance. 

Research on consequences of pharmacists job stress could be informative for students (Table 13-4). It is logical to conclude that what is considered job stress for pharmacists could be school stress for students or a combination of work and school. Thus, if students feel stressed about school and perhaps their internship, they likely might suffer similar consequences as pharmacists dissatisfaction with their Pharm.D. program or internship, lower commitment to completing one s degree program or even pharmacy as a career, quitting school or the internship or both, and the potential for substance abuse and burnout. 

Pharmacy personnel may develop MSDs such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis from activities that involve repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, awkward postures, or contact stress. Use assistive devices if possible. The modification of pharmacy tasks decreases incidence of work-related MSDs. Redesign the process to incorporate variation into the task. Provide ergonomically comfortable work stations including wrist pads, adjustable padded chairs, keyboard tray, and monitors at a comfortable height. 

CEO s example, may rein in the pharmacy s costs by continually switching to the latest low-cost supplier, unaware of the potential confusion this creates in the working interface, where nurses are already stressed and finding it difficult to cope with ever-changing medication dosage forms, names, labels, and appearances. 

Also, study of flow properties of liquids is important for pharmacists working in the manufacture of several dosage forms, such as simple liquids, ointments, creams and pastes. The flow behavior of liquids under applied stress is of great relevance in the field of pharmacy. Flow properties are used as important quality control tools to maintain the superiority of the product and reduce batch-to-batch variations. 

The report has already been criticized (60, 61, 64) on various groimds, including its assumption that the addition of drugs to infusions on the ward is inevitable perhaps rightly, critics of the report stress that the demands of aseptic procedure which the Working Party itself regards as essential can only be met if admixture of drugs is performed under optimal conditions, e.g. in industry or in the ho ital pharmacy. The same point has been advanced in discussions in Australia (63). 

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