The association of subjective workload dimensions on quality of care and pharmacist quality of work life

Abstract

Background Workload has been described both objectively (e.g., number of prescriptions dispensed per pharmacist) as well as subjectively (e.g., pharmacist’s perception of busyness). These approaches might be missing important characteristics of pharmacist workload that have not been previously identified and measured. Objectives To measure the association of community pharmacists’ workload perceptions at three levels (organization, job, and task) with job satisfaction, burnout, and perceived performance of two tasks in the medication dispensing process. Methods A secondary data analysis was performed using cross-sectional survey data collected from Wisconsin (US) community pharmacists. Organization–related workload was measured as staffing adequacy; job-related workload was measured as general and specific job demands; task-related workload was measured as internal and external mental demands. Pharmacists’ perceived task performance was assessed for patient profile review and patient consultation. The survey was administered to a random sample of 500 pharmacists who were asked to opt in if they were a community pharmacist. Descriptive statistics and correlations of study variables were determined. Two structural equation models were estimated to examine relationships between the study variables and perceived task performance. Results From the 224 eligible community pharmacists that agreed to participate, 165 (73.7%) usable surveys were completed and returned. Job satisfaction and job-related monitoring demands had direct positive associations with both dispensing tasks. External task demands were negatively related to perceived patient consultation performance. Indirect effects on both tasks were primarily mediated through job satisfaction, which was positively related to staffing adequacy and cognitive job demands and negatively related to volume job demands. External task demands had an additional indirect effect on perceived patient consultation performance, as it was associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and higher levels of burnout. Implications/Conclusions Allowing community pharmacists to concentrate on tasks and limiting interruptions while performing these tasks are important factors in improving quality of patient care and pharmacist work life. The results have implications for strategies to improve patient safety and pharmacist performance.

The Association of Nursing Workloads, Organizational, and Individual Factors with Adverse Patient Outcome

“…In addition, objective measurements such as attendance and hospitalization of patients in hospital wards provide useful information about healthcare staff's workload dimensions including physical, emotional, and cognitive ones (22). From the human factor point of view, excessive workload in healthcare shows its effect in two forms: First, patient-related outcomes and providing care including patient safety events and quality of healthcare; and second, healthcare staff-related outcomes such as quality of work, satisfaction, and job burnout (23,24).…”

Relationship between Quality of Work Life of Medical Staff and Quality of Patient Care

“…The quality of work life is comprehensive and increasing employee satisfaction and education helps them adapt to change [8]. Studies have found that the effect of different aspects of the quality of work that influence the quality of patient care include life organizational variables such as organizational conditions [9], occupational stress [10], organizational support from the medical staff [11], workload [12], job satisfaction [7,13], and occupational burnout [9,14,15]. Quality of work life can affect staff performance [16] and job engagement [17] and the factors also predict the quality of organizational service.…”

Fatores de risco para estresse e transtornos mentais em farmacêuticos e auxiliares de farmácia

“…Já o estudo realizado por Chui et al 20 , em Wisconsin, associa a síndrome em questão à insatisfação no trabalho em farmácias comunitárias.…”

“…Dentre os doze artigos encontrados utilizando os descritores e as bases de dados, sete abordavam fatores estressores relativos à profissão 13,21,22,24,27-29 e cinco abordavam especificamente transtornos de ordem mental 20,23,25,26,30 . Dentre os sete artigos que abordam fatores de estresse relacionados aos profissionais de farmácias, o de Lea et al 22 e o de Hassell et al 24 são revisões bibliográficas que compartilham diversos artigos em suas referências, apresentando, consequentemente, fatores estressores similares, causando a falsa impressão de estressores semelhantes em trabalhos distintos.…”

“…Com relação aos artigos que avaliam transtornos mentais específicos, todos os artigos encontrados versam sobre a síndrome de Burnout 20,23,25,26,30 , não havendo literatura abordando demais transtornos mentais específicos aos farmacêuticos e auxiliares de farmácia. Tais transtornos são abordados em alunos de graduação em farmácia, como citado por Hunt et al 16 , que mostram casos de depressão e transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo relacionados a distúrbios do sono e anedonia.…”