Kazakhstan pharmacy survey reveals burnout crisis among young staff

Kazakhstan’s pharmacy sector is facing a burnout crisis of remarkable proportions, according to the first multiregional study of occupational burnout among the country’s pharmacy professionals. A cross-sectional online survey conducted between January and April 2025 collected responses from 385 pharmacists, assistant pharmacists, and pharmacy managers across all 17 regions and three large cities of Kazakhstan. Using the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), the study found that 68.8% of respondents reported high emotional exhaustion, 81.6% showed high depersonalization, and 54.3% experienced a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. The composite Burnout Index reached a median of 0.56 (interquartile range 0.50–0.63), substantially exceeding the 0.40 threshold that defines high burnout under the adapted classification criteria.

Burnout, formally recognized as an occupational phenomenon in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), is defined as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. The concept encompasses three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Pharmacists are considered particularly vulnerable due to frequent patient contact, high dispensing volumes, and demanding professional responsibilities. Previous international studies have documented significant burnout among pharmacy professionals: approximately 42% of pharmacists in Serbia are at risk of burnout, 53% in Bulgaria face moderate to high levels, and 71.3% of pharmacists in Turkey reported feelings of ineffectiveness or declining personal accomplishment. Although these figures are not directly comparable due to differences in instruments and burnout definitions, they collectively indicate that occupational burnout is a widespread concern in pharmaceutical practice worldwide.

The Kazakh findings, however, stand out for the predominance of depersonalization rather than workload-driven exhaustion. More than 80% of respondents scored in the high range for depersonalization, a rate that exceeds most figures recorded in European and Middle Eastern countries. The researchers interpret this pattern as potentially reflecting structural features characteristic of post-Soviet health systems. Since independence, Kazakhstan’s pharmaceutical sector has transitioned from government-regulated pharmaceutical care to market-oriented retail, fundamentally changing the professional role of pharmacists. Within the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theoretical framework, role ambiguity and identity conflict represent high job demands that, in the absence of compensating resources such as professional autonomy and institutional recognition, may contribute to emotional detachment as a coping mechanism.

The study’s demographic profile revealed a pronounced skew toward early-career professionals: 274 respondents (71.2%) were under 25 years of age, and 180 (46.8%) reported less than one year of work experience. This distribution may reflect both the online recruitment channel and the actual age structure of a workforce that continuously incorporates recent graduates. The researchers caution that the reported burnout proportions most directly characterize early-career pharmacy professionals rather than the workforce as a whole, and that burnout levels among more experienced professionals may differ. Nevertheless, this group represents a highly active and particularly vulnerable segment of the workforce, and high burnout scores among early-career respondents may reflect a transition-related difficulty—a gap between professional expectations and actual working conditions during the initial years of practice.

Statistical analysis using nonparametric tests appropriate for the non-normal data distribution confirmed that burnout is not evenly distributed within the workforce. Male pharmacy professionals reported significantly higher depersonalization than females (Mann–Whitney U = 10844.0, p < 0.001), a finding consistent with evidence from Chinese hospital pharmacists and data from Qatar. Age and work experience emerged as strong factors: the 36–45-year age group recorded the highest mean ranks for both emotional exhaustion (Kruskal–Wallis H = 28.692, p < 0.001) and depersonalization (H = 42.835, p < 0.001), and professionals with 3–5 years of service showed the sharpest burnout peak for both dimensions. This pattern may reflect a critical professional transition, when initial engagement is replaced by fatigue in the absence of structured career development pathways.

Educational background was also associated with burnout outcomes. Pharmacy professionals with secondary pharmaceutical education showed significantly higher depersonalization (H = 6.385, p = 0.041) and lower personal accomplishment (H = 7.204, p = 0.027) compared with bachelor’s graduates. This finding suggests that higher education and access to continuing professional development may build resilience against occupational stress. Job role analysis revealed that frontline pharmacists had the highest emotional exhaustion (H = 10.583, p = 0.014), and professionals working outside their pharmaceutical specialty reported significantly lower personal accomplishment (U = 11258.5, p = 0.002), indicating that role misalignment may independently contribute to burnout beyond educational level alone.

Geographic differences in participation were evident, with the highest response rates in Almaty (16.9%), Shymkent (12.7%), and Astana (11.7%), and the lowest in Taraz (0.8%), Uralsk (1.0%), and Zhezkazgan (1.8%). These patterns reflect the uneven distribution of pharmacy infrastructure throughout Kazakhstan and are consistent with global data linking resource inequality and workload imbalance to geographic differences in burnout levels. At the time of the study, approximately 8,500 community pharmacies were registered across Kazakhstan, with an estimated total workforce exceeding 17,000 specialists. The minimum required sample size of 385 respondents was calculated a priori using the Cochran formula, and internal consistency of the MBI-HSS subscales was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, yielding acceptable values for all three dimensions.

The study offers the first multiregional empirical evidence on burnout among pharmacy professionals in Kazakhstan and provides context-specific evidence relevant to post-Soviet healthcare systems undergoing commercialization and reform—a transition context that has received little empirical attention despite its relevance for multiple countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The findings are consistent with the initial hypothesis grounded in the JD-R model: mid-career professionals and those with lower educational attainment were disproportionately affected, in line with the model’s prediction of resource deficit-driven burnout. The researchers suggest that burnout reflects the intersection of internal organizational weaknesses and external systemic pressures, and that its mitigation requires coordinated policy responses rather than individual-level solutions.

Four priority directions emerge from the findings: strengthening psychological support and mental health resources within pharmacy organizations; expanding continuing professional development and mentoring programs, particularly for early- and mid-career staff; reforming human resource management practices with targeted incentive mechanisms for rural and underserved areas; and leveraging digital technologies for workload monitoring, communication, and training access. Future research should explore regional variation in burnout determinants, conduct comparative analyses between urban and rural pharmacy settings, and examine the effectiveness of targeted strategies such as digital workload management tools, structured mentoring programs, and resilience-building interventions. However, given the cross-sectional design and non-probability convenience sampling, these recommendations should be interpreted as preliminary and require validation through longitudinal and interventional studies before informing workforce policies in Kazakhstan and similar post-Soviet healthcare contexts.

Subject of Research: Occupational burnout in Kazakhstan's pharmacy sector

Article Title: Occupational burnout as a workforce management challenge in Kazakhstan’s pharmacy sector

Article References: Jiyenbalanov, S., Kalykova, A., Zhakipbekov, K., Arakawa, N., & Kamkhen, V. (2026). Occupational burnout as a workforce management challenge in Kazakhstan’s pharmacy sector. Pharmacia, 73, Article e195725. https://doi.org/10.3897/pharmacia.73.e195725

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/pharmacia.73.e195725

Keywords: Occupational, burnout, workforce, management, challenge, Kazakhstan, pharmacy, sector, scientific research