ASHP is among 34 grantees that will develop tailored evidence-based training programs to various disciplines, specialties, and locations of healthcare workers. We will focus our efforts on the pharmacy workforce, with an emphasis on reaching those who practice in rural, underserved, and tribal communities. We will leverage ASHP resources and offer implementation support through a new Well-Being Ambassador Program and utilize ASHP’s Well-Being and Resilience Certificate. The curriculum in the professional certificate addresses core principles associated with burnout in the healthcare workforce, individual resilience strategies, redesigned work system approaches, and cultures to sustain healthcare professional well-being and resilience. Those who complete the Ambassador Program will be proficient in individual well-being strategies to support resilience for themselves and others, as well as apply systems-based and human-centered design principles to transform organizations into cultures of well-being.

We are honored to be part of this critical imperative to advance solutions to support the well-being and resilience of the pharmacy and healthcare workforce – an initiative that is more important than ever as we prepare to enter the third year of a global pandemic.

Although occupational burnout is not new for the pharmacy profession, it has intensified with increased workload volumes, staffing and medication shortages, and acuity of care due to COVID-19. Our profession has boldly stepped into new roles to offer countermeasures to COVID-19 in their communities, on top of their daily workload and with minimal time to rest and recover for the next day’s demands.

ASHP has maintained a longstanding commitment to fostering and sustaining the well-being, resilience, and professional engagement of the pharmacy workforce. In fact, we have reports and publications highlighting the risk of occupational burnout in our profession dating back to the early 1980s. In 2017, ASHP became an original sponsor of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-being and Resilience; and work in the Action Collaborative continues.  ASHP ensured that the pharmacy profession was represented on the NAM Consensus Study: Taking action against clinician burnout: A systems approach to professional well-being. Our engagement in these efforts has informed the development of a range of resources, developed by and on behalf of members, housed online at ASHP Well-Being & You.

Over the next three years, ASHP will be developing a number of additional high-impact initiatives through this grant to advance the local implementation of solutions and strategies to address burnout in the pharmacy workforce. We are committed to equipping local leaders with the knowledge and skills to build individual resilience and lead organizational change. In addition, this work will raise the visibility of critical issues like anxiety, burnout, depression, stress, and suicide and offer system-based approaches and strategies around what has become a national emergency for our healthcare workforce.

We are very much looking forward to working with HRSA and sharing important updates with you on this vital work. In the meantime, please contact us at wellbeing@ashp.org if you are interested in learning more about the grant and the Well-Being Ambassador Program.

Thank you for being a member of ASHP and for all you do for your patients and our profession.

Sincerely,

Paul

Posted on January 25, 2022