The pharmacy profession is in a crisis: burnout, absenteeism, presentism and stress-induced mental and physical ill health are hampering the delivery of critically needed healthcare provisions our patients desperately need. Historical leadership measures and advances in technological areas to address these issues have helped in limited ways, but the current statistics show failings on multiple levels. A new approach is, therefore, needed.

Self-empowerment/development and positive psychology build individual, institutional and professional resiliency. This session will explain how cultivating humanistic and interpersonal skill sets will help to plug the current leadership gap within pharmacy which will enable future workforce development/transformation and improve the wellbeing and care of our pharmacy teams.

We must recognise that everyone in the team is a leader requiring development, leading themselves and the patients they serve. If we don’t, we will continue to lose our most talented individuals to other sectors/professions.