Although we've crossed over into a new year, the world at large won't necessarily feel that different for many people, due to the persistent health hazard and societal upheaval stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Those working in various facets of the U.S. healthcare sector — particularly elder and long-term care, which has seen more death than other areas of caregiving by far — feel this burden even more acutely. Depression, anxiety, and the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder are hardly uncommon.

The brunt of mental distress falling on LTC employees isn't limited to doctors, nurses, orderlies, and others on the immediate front lines of caregiving. Pharmacy technicians have shouldered this burden in their own way since the COVID-19 crisis exploded into a pandemic in early March 2020.

The administrators and HR leaders of LTC pharmacies need to examine this issue in detail, incorporate it into future operational planning and do everything they can to make techs' day-to-day responsibilities a little easier. Any failure to do so could lead not only to further burnout and turnover but also quality-of-care declines that may quite literally put further lives at risk.

Pharmacy burnout: The big picture

Unlike COVID-19, the phenomenon of caregiver burnout among pharmacy techs isn't a novel health issue in itself. The most general version of the term, "occupational burnout," appeared as a general condition in the World Health Organization's ICD-10 manual (and will appear in the forthcoming ICD-11 with an expanded definition): "a syndrome … resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." Major symptoms include:

• Feelings of exhaustion or fatigue

• Negativity or cynicism regarding a job

• Increasing "mental distance" from a job

• Declining productivity and/or quality of work

Mental health experts and researchers have studied this issue for the last few decades. An article in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association from 2002 tackled it, identifying the way in which crises often simultaneously occur and overwhelm pharmacists or technicians. Other studies have handled more niche examples of pharmacist and technician burnout in settings such as pediatric hospital pharmacies and community pharmacies. Mainstream publications like CNN have pointed out this issue as well; in 2016, the news provider cited pharmacy technician on a list of the highest-stress jobs. (It's worth noting that the piece described pharmacy technicians in general, rather than focusing on those employed by LTC facilities.)

The conclusions drawn from such studies and articles are often similar: When demands for medication surge and patients become distressed by delays — and pharmacies aren't equipped with the personnel, resources, or managerial support to meet the greater need as effectively as possible — technicians feel some of the most adverse effects.

Technicians' burdens mount in wake of COVID-19

The impact of the pandemic on technicians across all pharmacies was immediate and devastating. According to an April 2020 survey conducted by the National Pharmacy Technician Association, very few techs characterized themselves as feeling "very safe" in their profession.

Most technicians working for pharmacies in hospitals, LTCs, and other health systems said their employers provided adequate information and disinfecting tools. Yet they also noted that personal protective equipment was often in short supply.

In an interview with the industry periodical Drug Topics, NPTA founder and CEO Mike Johnston said that he fully expected the stresses faced by pharmacy technicians to develop into prolonged mental health issues.

"I think something that we really need to pay attention to is the anxiety and the worry and the fear that pharmacists and technicians are experiencing," Johnston told the news provider. "The reality is, pharmacy workers are smack dab in the middle of trauma … Data suggests that there's going to be significant increases in depression and post-traumatic stress disorders."

Finding the way forward through fatigue

Nearly half of all caregivers (37%) confirmed that they deal with emotional difficulties even in the best of times, according to Craig Hospital, and these feelings surge dramatically alongside public-health crises like the pandemic. It's no surprise that the same dynamic appears to exist among pharmacy technicians. While the NPTA's survey found that the biggest problems were in chain pharmacies and those built into big-box stores, no pharmacy is immune from these issues, so leading pharmacists and other supervisors must labor intensely to support their techs and minimize the damage done by burnout.

Emphasizing the importance of in-the-moment mindfulness can be beneficial. According to Ultimate Medical Academy, it's critical that pharmacy techs learn to recognize situations they find frustrating and note associated triggers, to better organize a mental response when they occur. Setting priorities each day is also key, though the LTC pharmacy environment dictates that these must sometimes change on a dime. When techs leave work each day, it's essential that they get proper sleep and eat healthily, but they must also avoid isolation, a trap that techs may fall into without being fully aware of it, especially when the pandemic necessitates minimized socialization. Video conference-based support groups with other caregivers, as well as regular communication with friends and family, are both musts.

LTC pharmacy administrators, meanwhile, can commit to larger-scale actions on behalf of all of their techs. Implementing an initiative like Mental Health First Aid could be an option, as there are notable examples of it benefiting pharmacists and technicians in the past. It will also be valuable to improve techs' workflow and efficiency, which a cutting-edge pharmacy management platform like FrameworkLTC is well-equipped to do. The data-driven software solution helps improve cooperation between pharmacies and the facilities they serve, while also automating a significant number of routine tasks and vastly simplifying the order, discharge, and delivery processes for critical medications.

To learn more about what FrameworkLTC has to offer in the LTC space, contact us today or request a demo.