Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacists need stress relief

PHARMACISTS are being urged by Pharmacists' Support Service Executive Officer, Kay Dunkley, to review systems in their workplaces to ensure they enhance workflow and reduce stress, and use personal stress management techniques.

Commenting on a blog published by a British pharmacist, who wrote about how he turned to alcohol to cope with the "battleground" and "chaos" of community pharmacy, Dunkley emphasised that pharmacists needed to look after their physical and mental health to cope with high pressure situations they experience regardless of their practice setting.

The British pharmacist said he had struggled to cope with the pressure to meet targets, while working within tight budgetary constraints.

"There is no doubt that working in this chaos has led to my alcoholism," he said.

"I'm tethered to the dispensing bench for eight hours a day so there is no chance to deliver good care to my patients.

"So in my spare time, I drink to find brief relief and I feel really guilty about this.

"Alcohol has a serious impact, which crept up on me over many years of coping."

Dunkley told Pharmacy Daily that pharmacists needed to adopt personal stress management techniques to tackle the challenges they face.

"It is important to have healthy ways of winding down after a busy day such as exercise, music or talking with someone close to you," she said.

"What we need to avoid is when that alcoholic drink after work to relax becomes two or three or more.

"In Australia we have a strong drinking culture and it is common to use alcohol to relax at home and at social functions.

"Drinking excessively is seen as a right of passage into adulthood for many young Australians.

"There is also pressure in social situations to have a drink; 'go on just one won't hurt you'. It is very easy to slip into the habit of using alcohol to cope with stress all the time and it is often not until either something goes wrong (e.g. a drink driving charge) or someone close to us points it out to us that we become aware that our drinking levels are problematic.

"Even then we can deny the situation and it is not until we are ready to change that we will be open to help.

"Alcohol dependence brings a lot of shame with it which can make it very hard to seek help even when we are ready.

"There are lots of possible sources of help for anyone with alcohol dependence."

Dunkley said pharmacists looking for help dealing with managing workplace stress can find useful resources on the Pharmacists Support Service website HERE.