Today is my last day as an APPE student at the ASHP Headquarters and what an amazing month it has been! As I reflect on this past month, the first thing that comes to my mind is the people that I have met. Every single person here at ASHP is working endlessly to ensure that you, the member, are supported, valued, and provided with the tools necessary to be a great practitioner.
As a student who is about to enter the workforce, one recurrent theme that stuck out to me is the work ASHP is doing on burnout, well-being, and resilience (wellbeing.ashp.org). It is so reassuring that ASHP is diligently working to protect the future of our profession. I have witnessed first-the discussion of what residency program directors are trying to do to support their residents to avoid burnout later in their career. I also saw how those in administration are trying to advance these initiatives to promote a better work-life balance for their employees. I appreciate that ASHP has partnered with the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and various other organizations to sponsor the NAM Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. Hopefully some of you were able to sit in on some of the ASHP Well-Being sessions at the Midyear Clinical Meeting (https://midyear.ashp.org/About/Well-Being-Conference-Activities) this year. ASHP acknowledges that the best way to ensure our members are reaching their full potential and ensuring optimal patient outcomes is to take care of our practitioners! ASHP has provided many documents and resources on this topic area as well as a “To Do List for Promoting a Resilient and Thriving Pharmacy Workforce” toolkit. One of the things that I personally am most excited about is ASHP’s new partnership with Headspace (https://www.ashp.org/Membership-Center/Be-Kind-to-Your-Mind). Headspace is a meditation and mindfulness app that is shown to help reduce stress and burnout, while boosting happiness, compassion, resilience, and overall life satisfaction. I can attest to this personally from using it this month. With the added stress that comes with applying to residency (or jobs too) like waiting on potential interviews, scheduling/logistics of getting to interview, and preparing for interviews, I was not sleeping well and losing productivity at my rotation. As soon as I started using Headspace, I was able to tell a huge difference on how I was handling these stressful situations! So far my favorite has been the sessions on resilience. I was able to become more patient with the residency process by using the techniques I learned, while feeling happier and even more recharged every single day. If you haven’t tried it yet, it is definitely something that you should give a try!
I am so thankful to have learned all that ASHP is doing to help us out with improving our well-being, and that I have become familiar with the resources available to me as an ASHP member. I know I will utilize all of these resources as I transition into my role as a new practitioner. I would love to hear what some tips and tricks that you all have done to work on well-being and resilience at your school or practice setting?