What is resilience?
Resilience describes the ways in which individuals are able to manage and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances in their environment. There are many different factors influencing an individual’s ability to respond resiliently to change or adversity; self-awareness and empowerment require knowledge and support. Through this website, CPE hopes to provide pharmacists and the pharmacy workforce with these kinds of supports to help build a more resilient pharmacy workforce.
Why be concerned about resilience in pharmacy practice?
Now more than ever, pharmacists face unprecedented challenges and competing demands for their time and talent. Some pharmacists report feeling overwhelmed or unable to manage. Providing pharmacists in all types of practices with the tools and knowledge they need to better support their own resilience is critical, so pharmacists can continue to care effectively for their patients.
How can resilience be learned or developed?
Each individual is unique, and will have their own strengths and challenges with respect to resilience. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the issues of coping, adaptation, and resilience. Instead, having access to a variety of tools, approaches, strategies, and ideas to help individuals self-assess and reflect upon their own needs can be more effective. CPE’s repository of resilience resources can provide a useful starting point to help individuals navigate complex but highly personal needs and to identify supports that are most relevant and helpful.
How does this repository work?
There are many different approaches and many different strategies that have been described to support resilience of the health care workforce; some of these may work for you, while others may be less helpful. This repository provides links to the work of researchers, clinicians, and educators from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, as well as links to the work of colleagues from around the world. There is no single, or right way to navigate this repository. Exploring the resources contained here, and reflecting on your own interests and needs (or those of someone you work with) can provide a useful first step in better understanding how to build resilience.
When resilience may not be enough:
It is important to recognize that in some cases, practice-related stress and burnout may reach critical or even dangerous levels. In many cases, burnout may produce psychiatric consequences that are simply not suitable for self-management: if you feel you or a colleague are in crisis or have reached a stage where self-help or collegial support are not sufficient, please connect with a qualified health care professional immediately to seek the assistance and support you need to stay healthy.