Addressing Burnout in Pharmacy Residency Programs

Addressing health care provider burnout has become a top priority for many health care systems. Unfortunately, a paucity of literature is available on preventing and managing burnout in pharmacy residents despite an increase in articles on the prevalence of pharmacy burnout. This limits the ability of pharmacy managers to understand and address burnout in this high-risk population. Until further investigation into the most beneficial, evidence-based strategies for managing burnout in this population is conducted, this commentary offers strategies to address and mitigate burnout in pharmacy residency training programs based on the available interdisciplinary literature. The authors have first-hand experience with burnout and aim to begin a paradigm shift to emphasize well-being and reshape the culture of postgraduate training. Dr. Potter has dedicated time to developing programming and founded an interprofessional well-being organization called Mindfulness in Newly Developing Students of Healthcare (MINDS) for health care students and providing recommendations for pharmacy residency programs. As a program director, Dr. Cadiz focuses on the development of realistic and effective strategies to eliminate burnout and foster well-being in her pharmacy residency training program.