Pharmacists work in nearly every corner of health care, but new research finds the pressures behind the counter can be intense. A UC San Diego study shows pharmacists are at higher risk for suicide.
“Anywhere where a medication is dispensed, researched, used, pharmacists have to be at the forefront of that,” said Kelly Lee, a psychiatric pharmacist at UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and lead author of the study published Thursday in the "American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy."
Lee and her team looked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s National Violent Death Reporting System data from 2011 to 2022. They found pharmacists were about 20% more likely to die by suicide than the general population. Male pharmacists had about a 25% higher risk than men overall, and female pharmacy technicians had about a 22% higher risk than other women.
“Pharmacy technicians are responsible for much of the filling of the medications, as well as interacting with customers,” Lee said.
That front-line pressure is something pharmacist Diana Arouchanova has seen firsthand.
“These are people who need care. These are people who are battling different types of disease states. So they come to us already very frustrated with whatever they're frustrated with and trying to deal with their health conditions,” she said.
More research is needed to understand why people in the field die by suicide more often than others, but stigma keeps many from seeking help, Lee said.
“We are also concerned about what our patients would say if they found out that we had a mental health disorder, that we were being treated,” she said. “Would they be concerned about our ability to provide care, our cognitive abilities?”
Lee has experienced burnout herself.
“Postpartum depression from having a child. I went through cancer. I went through the loss of my husband,” she said.
She tries to lead by example and encourages others to seek mental health treatment.
“It is not a weakness in character to get help,” Lee said.
She said the goal is action, not just awareness.
“I think we need a lot of work and interventions to figure out how to prevent a suicide,” she said.
Their research group goal is zero suicides among health care workers.
“We need better workplace policies to allow our caregivers to take time off,” she said. “So that they can be in treatment, or they can take a leave of absence without jeopardizing their employment, or their licensure.”
