Operationalizing occupational fatigue in pharmacists: An exploratory factor analysis

The Quadruple Aim recognizes that caring for the healthcare employee is necessary to optimize patient outcomes and health system performance. Although previous research has assessed pharmacists' workload, this study is the first to describe pharmacist occupational fatigue-a characteristic of excessive workload that inhibits workers' abilities to function at normal capacity.

(s): The purpose of this study was to describe occupational fatigue in pharmacists using exploratory factor analysis (EFA)-assessing whether dimensional structures used to describe occupational fatigue in other health professions fit pharmacist perceptions.

A model was created to conceptualize two "fatigue" domains found in the literature-physical fatigue (ex. Physical discomfort) and mental fatigue (ex. trouble thinking clearly). These domains were operationalized and used to create a survey that was distributed to licensed pharmacists at a conference. An EFA was conducted to identify the key domains underlying pharmacist perceptions of fatigue.

A total of 283 surveys were distributed, and 115 were returned and useable. Respondents were primarily white, female, and worked 9.5 h-per-day on average. The EFA suggested a statistically significant two-factor model (Χ² 9.73, p = 0.28), which included physical fatigue (α = 0.87) and mental fatigue (α = 0.82) dimensions.

The EFA yielded a structure similar to what was anticipated from the literature. While working, pharmacists may not be aware of fatigue related short-cuts or lapses that pose risks to patient safety. This study is just the first step in promoting systematic interventions to prevent or cope with fatigue and prevent the patient, pharmacist, and institutional outcomes.