Association of the barriers of pharmaceutical care perceived by clinical pharmacists and occupational stress in tertiary hospitals of China

Abstract

Abstract Background As an important member of the health care team, clinical pharmacists' occupational stress will lead to the decline of pharmaceutical care quality. Chinese clinical pharmacists are facing high work pressure. Person-environment fit theory indicated that the barriers of pharmaceutical care may be a potential factor associated with occupational stress. However, in clinical practice, it is unclear whether the perceived barriers of clinical pharmacists affect occupational stress in clinical practice and which barriers will affect. Objective This study aimed to assess the association between the specific barriers of pharmaceutical care perceived by clinical pharmacists and their occupational stress in China. Method A field questionnaire survey using a stratified sampling was conducted to gather data on occupational stress, barriers of pharmaceutical care perceived by clinical pharmacists, and other factors of occupational stress using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire and a self-developed instrument. Ordinary least squares regression was used to evaluate the association of the participants’ knowledge, skills, and other factors with their occupational stress. Results A total of 625 clinical pharmacists from 311 tertiary hospitals in China (response rate = 84%) participated. Perceived resource dimension (p = 0.00) and self-improvement dimension barriers (p = 0.01) was associated with increased occupational stress of the participants. In addition, clinical pharmacists’ technical titles and specialized field are associated with their occupational stress. Conclusion By reducing some specific barriers of pharmaceutical care perceived by clinical pharmacists, the occupational stress can be relieved, so as to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical pharmaceutical care.