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Life is full of stresses. Everyone experiences them; every profession has them. It is inherent to those professions with important responsibilities. The health professions inherently have more stress associated with them because of the impact of their actions, or lack thereof, on the health of our patients. Truly life and death responsibilities. Medication errors kill. Every prescription that a pharmacy professional fills has numerous potentials for error. The stress increases with the workload.
On top of the care responsibilities, many pharmacists have the added pressure of running a viable business. Ensuring adequate cash flow to support the salaries of the staff and ongoing investments in the highly competitive business environment is a huge responsibility. For those working for larger corporations, the stress manifests from the corporate head office and the performance expectations that they have for their managers and staff. All to do with ensuring corporate profitability. I don’t mean that in a pejorative sense. It is good business. Payer audits are stressful due to the rare but significant financial impact of clawbacks. Recently, PharmaCare didn’t renew their contracts with some pharmacies, due to concerns with their business practices. This represented a small percentage of the retail pharmacies in the province. The majority are fine. Business as usual.
The College can cause stress to pharmacy professionals too. When things go awry, an appearance before the inquiry or discipline committees can be very stressful, as this is where professional accountability is ensured for the public, and the stakes are high. Sometimes we hear that stress and business issues contributed to the practice issue or error. Other times, it is clear that there were poor professional practices that need to be addressed. As a self governing profession, we do this. Better us than someone else. The pharmacy and pharmacy professionals reviews can be stressful. They are a good thing though. They are an accountability mechanism for the College to meet our mandate to serve the public. The vast majority of reviews are uneventful. Minor tweaks necessary, and we’ll see you in 6 years. We haven’t had any major concerns so far, with 137 pharmacy reviews and 298 pharmacy professional reviews completed.
Stress also provides rewards and gratification. Helping patients get better, and resolve their health ailments is tremendously rewarding. Life and death rewards. Building the business, often because of the personal touch and care that you provide to patients and their families that builds loyalty. Successful businesses are great places to work. They are able to compensate their professionals appropriately, and there is a degree of pride associated with success.
Stress cycles with enjoyment in life, or it should. The time between life enjoyment and hunker down stress is an important determinant of happiness. There are times when an annual vacation doesn’t happen because of work issues. And other times we are able to take a short or maybe even a long break. Even a weekend off work – no email, no work phone calls, no dropping by the office – can be energizing.
People used to tell me that work always slows down in the summer. While I don’t think that this is still the case, the longer days do provide more opportunities to enjoy the weather, get some exercise, and connect with family and friends. Take advantage of these opportunities. After all, there’s always something else around the corner, so take a break. You’ve earned it!
Best,
- Registrar
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