Citation

Carpenter D. J. Am. Pharm. Assoc. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, American Pharmacists Association)

DOI

10.1016/j.japh.2022.04.012

PMID

35577727

Abstract

If you have not been personally affected by suicide, you probably know others who have. Before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, and since the pandemic began, multiple professional organizations have raised the alarm about the declining mental health of health professionals and health professional students. This makes the commentary by Lee et al., which examines suicide rates in pharmacists, especially timely.

Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, Lee et al. found that, before the pandemic, the age-adjusted suicide rates for pharmacists in the United States were higher than the general population in 2004, 2009, and 2014. The most common means of suicide for pharmacists were firearms and poisoning. Factors that were associated with pharmacist suicide were job problems and current treatment for mental illness. Given the recent attention that pharmacist job stress and burnout has received in the literature, these findings are particularly concerning.

The pharmacy community must act now to implement immediate and long-term solutions to reduce suicide...

Language: en