The impact of faculty and student pharmacist relationships on burnout

Students in health professions, including student pharmacist, are at an increased risk of psychological distress. Unfortunately, effective efforts to combat burnout for student pharmacists are still lacking in the literature and create a void in schools and colleges of pharmacy that seek to assist their students.

The objective of this study was to explore how increasing positive out-of-class interactions between the student pharmacists and faculty members affect burnout, especially in work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement. Professional fulfillment was also assessed as a primary outcome.

The institutional review board approved this study consisting of 4 faculty members and 12 students. After providing informed consent, the participants were assigned to one of 4 groups. Each group included 1 faculty member and 3 students. At the start of the study, each participant completed a modified Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index questionnaire to measure baseline burnout characteristics and initial level of professional fulfillment. For 8 weeks, the groups met weekly to discuss a topic related to burnout and professional fulfillment. After 8 weeks, each participant completed the postquestionnaire. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were performed to the mean scores (pre vs. post) in each of the 3 constructs. The statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

The results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the burnout constructs, work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement. There was not a statistically significant change in professional fulfillment.

Improving relationships between student pharmacist and faculty through increasing out-of-class interactions benefits individuals who are at risk of experiencing burnout. Future initiatives can focus on effective strategies that target work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement and build on the social networks that develop in pharmacy school.