Heavy workloads, lack of recognition, and stressful environments fuel emotional exhaustion, turnover, and patient safety concerns.
Pharmacy technicians are essential in many health care environments, including retail, hospital, and practice-based pharmacies; insurance companies; and pharmacy benefits organizations. Their responsibilities range from filling prescriptions and managing inventory to providing customer service, administering immunizations, and managing medication therapy.
However, pharmacy technicians encounter significant burnout and mental health challenges due to their demanding roles. This necessitates individual and organizational approaches to promote their well-being.
Most pharmacy technician burnout stems from high workloads, staffing shortages, and intense performance expectations, leading to low morale, increased turnover, and medication errors.1 Pharmacies are also high-stress environments with constant interruptions, complex patients, and pressure to avoid medication errors and legal consequences.
Kathleen Kenny, PharmD, RPh, earned her Doctoral degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She has more than 30 years of experience as a community pharmacist and works as a clinical medical writer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Workload and understaffing are key drivers. Technicians juggle prescription volumes, patient inquiries, and strict performance metrics, also managing inventory and keeping the pharmacy organized, often while being short-staffed.
Lack of recognition can compound these issues. Technicians are often viewed as pharmacists’ assistants rather than regulated health care professionals.2 Modest pay and minimal advancement opportunities worsen discontent.1
Pharmacy technician burnout significantly impacts individuals, organizations, patients, and the health care system. It can cause physical symptoms such as fatigue, headache, digestive issues, and a weakened immune system, as well as emotional symptoms such as feelings of helplessness, self-doubt, detachment, and dissatisfaction.2,3
Organizations face decreased productivity, absenteeism, high turnover, and costly errors.4 Patients may also experience delayed or inadequate care and medication errors. High turnover, medication errors, and negative patient interactions harm a pharmacy’s reputation within the community and erode patient trust, making it more difficult to attract and retain customers.
Addressing pharmacy technician burnout requires a multifaceted approach. Pharmacy technicians must learn to recognize burnout early and take appropriate actions to mitigate the onset of burnout. Technicians should prioritize self-care by leading a healthy lifestyle, relaxing, taking breaks, and maintaining boundaries between their work and personal lives. Practicing activities that develop resilience and stress management skills, such as mindfulness and yoga, may also help.
Companies need to prioritize the mental and physical health of their employees. They can start by addressing workload concerns, such as ensuring appropriate staffing and reasonable metrics. This would require open communication and acknowledgment of the problem and its consequences.
Working with professional and regulatory organizations and advocating for policy changes at both the organizational and regulatory levels is necessary to effect change. Reasonable staffing ratios and metrics, improved working conditions, and fair pay are imperative for the future of the pharmacy technician profession.
Pharmacy technicians are an integral part of the pharmacy team, no longer just an extension of the pharmacist. Their duties are expanding, and their stress levels are rising. Burnout is an increasing challenge in pharmacy technicians that can have far-reaching consequences.
Addressing burnout at the individual, organizational, and regulatory levels is overdue. Much can be done to prevent and manage burnout, but it must begin with the individual. Pharmacy technicians have to self-advocate by expressing their needs, seeking recognition for the jobs they do, and taking ownership of their professional journey through active participation. For a sustainable future of the profession and patient safety, employers and the health care community in general must invest in the mental health of pharmacy technicians.
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