Sir, – The crisis within the Irish healthcare system has dominated the media in recent days. The most recent episode of the Brendan O’Connor radio show (January 8th) discussed the tremendous psychological strain and occupational burnout among staff working in emergency department and critical-care units across the country.
The show also highlighted the important role community pharmacists played during Covid-19 and alluded to an expansion of their role to reduce pressure on other parts of the healthcare system.
Current research by our group at UCD has identified high levels of burnout and a low sense of personal accomplishment among community pharmacists. We also found that many of the same system-level issues (under-resourcing and understaffing) driving burnout among staff in acute care are equally present among community pharmacists. In addition, many of the pharmacy participants felt their competencies and skills were under-recognised and underutilised, and that their role within the Irish healthcare system was perceived as a mere dispenser of medicines rather than part of the healthcare team.
The post-pandemic environment is an opportune time for policymakers to reconsider pharmacist role expansion.
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The appointment of a chief pharmaceutical officer within the Department of Health could enable this role expansion for the benefit of all. Greater clinical autonomy in the supply of medicines for minor ailments, for example, could not only help reduce pressures on GPs, and increase patient convenience, but it would also serve to enhance the sense of purpose and meaning of pharmacists as healthcare professionals. Such actions could help to ameliorate the sense of disenchantment currently felt by many within the profession. It would also increase the attractiveness of pharmacy as a career among young people (pharmacists are now listed on the national critical skills shortages list) thus supporting the longer-term viability of community pharmacy in Ireland.
High levels of burnout among community and hospital-based staff also require regular monitoring by the HSE. Our group, supported by a Newman Fellow grant, is developing a toolkit that will enable senior management to monitor staff wellbeing and examine risk and mitigating factors at an organisational level.
This will support the necessary organisational-level changes needed to help the workforce respond to the challenges faced by healthcare in the 21st century. – Yours, etc,
Prof FIONA McNICHOLAS,
Dr BLÁNAID GAVIN,
Dr JOHN HAYDEN,
Dr SHANE O’ DONNELL,
Dr DIMITRIOS ADAMIS,
Dr ETAIN QUIGLEY,
UCD Newman
Fellowship team,
UCD School of Medicine,
Belfield,
Dublin 4.