The impact of burnout on over-the-counter counseling: a survey of community pharmacists in Vietnam

Background: In many countries, self-medication is, in fact, the main service provided, exhausting pharmacist time and increasing their workload. However, there are currently no reports describing the impact of burnout on patient medication counseling. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the influence of burnout on over-the-counter (OTC) medication counseling services in Vietnam. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in community pharmacies across four districts in Can Tho City, Vietnam, between April and May 2023. Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), comprising three subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE; 9 items), depersonalization (DP; 5 items), and personal accomplishment (PA; 8 items). OTC medication counseling activities were evaluated using 12 questions. Results: Of the 385 participants recruited, 22.3% reported high work intensity as a common factor contributing to burnout. Pharmacists with burnout had significantly lower medication counseling scores than those without burnout (mean = 4.35 vs. mean = 4.55, P = 0.005). Of the 12 OTC medication counseling activities, 6 activities, including inquiring about the recent medications used by the patient (P = 0.044), discouraging long-term medication use (P = 0.021), warning about the possibility of self-misdiagnosis (P < 0.001), warning about the possibility of the patient choosing the wrong treatment method (P = 0.001), providing advice on improving health (P = 0.005), and inquiring about allergies in the patient (P < 0.001), had significantly lower scores in pharmacists with burnout. Conclusions: There was a significant negative association between burnout and medication counseling activities. Increasing staff numbers may be a useful solution for reducing work intensity, as this factor is reported to contribute the most to burnout among current pharmacists.