After working for more than 20 years on drug shortages, Erin Fox, PharmD, is not burnt out.
Dr. Fox, the associate chief pharmacy officer for shared services at Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health who works on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' drug shortage database, told Becker's her strategy to avoid burnout is staying focused on the root of the issue.
Among hundreds of ongoing drug shortages, hospital pharmacists are dealing with a scarcity of multiple cancer therapies and emergency medications. The work is like using a pen to chip away at an ice block every day before a new layer forms overnight — one can work to gradually lessen its size, but a new problem can form at any time.
Dr. Fox said it is frustrating to constantly work on the decadeslong problem of a fragile pharmaceutical supply chain. Sometimes, people's proactive work can be tossed, leading to discouragement when a mitigation strategy is not needed.
"Just like emergency planning, you might never have that earthquake or hurricane or other disaster, but it's good to have that emergency plan in place," she said. "I try to talk to our clinicians about it from that perspective. It is frustrating to keep having, day after day, year after year, the same problem."
To prevent burnout, Dr. Fox said she focuses on the "why" of drug shortages as she redirects anger at the FDA to drugmakers reporting quality issues or failing to handle spiking demand.
She said hospital pharmacy directors need to "think creatively."
"It's very easy to get discouraged, but it's always better to try to be optimistic," Dr. Fox said. "Think about what you can do rather than what you cannot do."