Is Chasing the ‘Helper’s High’ the Key to Job Satisfaction for Pharmacy Staff?
The pharmacy profession, as it exists today, is not for the faint of heart. This may be especially true for those who have made their careers in the retail and community pharmacy setting, where the pressure to work faster, with fewer resources, continues to grow. Today’s pharmacists are having to deal with mercilessly unrealistic expectations, and the result of all of this can be frustration, depression, and burnout.
So why do we keep doing it? Well, there are many reasons. But one of them is, in my opinion, what has been called by psychologists “the helper’s high.” Pharmacists, maybe especially those who work on the frontlines of a community or outpatient pharmacy, have numerous opportunities to offer compassion to patients looking for our help every day.
And it feels good.
In fact, an article reviewing data from studies published by institutions like the National Institute of Health and Emory University points out that “giving produces endorphins in the brain that provide a mild version of a morphine high.”
Giving joy creates joy. It’s addictive. That’s why they call it “the helper’s high.” Think of it as a pleasant side effect. It’s the ultimate win-win scenario. And pharmacists find themselves in a position to do good maybe more often than other professions.
But how do you create an atmosphere that maximizes the opportunity to do good for patients, for yourself, and for your team?
Maintaining balance while chasing the helper’s high
First, it is important that you create the time needed to “go above and beyond” for your patients. Putting pressure on yourself to do the little extras that put smiles on people’s faces will backfire if you find you simply cannot keep up with your current workload.
We need to look really hard at our workflows and priorities. Are we taking on too much? Do we operate with the efficiency needed to allow for helping others? In an excellent article on the topic in Psychology Today, the author points out “Do what you can to help others, but be careful that you don’t take on so much that it turns out that you become the one who needs help in the end.”
Second, promote this concept to your team by presenting the clinical evidence that doing good is actually very good for their health as well! There are plenty of studies that show how helping others provides positive clinical results like lowering blood pressure, decreased depression, and even living longer.
In fact, a study conducted by the University of California Berkeley found that individuals over the age of 55 who volunteered for at least 2 organizations were 44% less likely to die over the course of the 5 years they were followed.
Third, do what I call “care and share.” Doing things for others feels good and sharing the experience with others tends to create a culture of similar responses by others. I personally use emails and meetings to communicate some of the satisfaction that has come from various patient care activities I’ve been involved in. It catches on. Soon others are eager to start doing similar things and sharing the satisfaction with coworkers and managers and leaders.
This isn’t about bragging or pride. It is about sharing the joy of giving, the pleasure of helping someone else with those around us so that they can benefit from the happiness as well.
The takeaway
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” While that may be true, the irony is that while you go about making “some difference” in the lives of others, we seem to find that personal happiness gets thrown in as a bonus as well.
Recently, I was reviewing survey results from patients who were asked to rate their experience at our pharmacy. The responses were heartwarming, especially since we service patients who are going through the frightening and exhausting process of cancer chemotherapy. Comments like “they were so helpful” and “always friendly to deal with” and “was served quickly so that I could get home after a long day” were written in by patients who found the pharmacy team brought a little joy to brighten their day while going through a very hard treatment plan.
That makes me want to work even harder as a pharmacist and leader to create such opportunities for doing good. That’s the helper’s high. And I find it to more than compensate for the numerous challenges and frustrations that we face when trying to run a successful business.
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