Designing an Inclusive Learning Training Series for Pharmacy Educators.

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of five faculty development sessions focused on inclusive teaching strategies in pharmacy education. Inclusive strategies ensure that every student can clearly understand and engage in meaningful learning opportunities. Three sessions were implemented in fall 2020 and two in spring 2021. Sessions focused on experiential, didactic, and graduate education. A convergent parallel mixed methods evaluation was conducted using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Sessions were highly rated, and participants provided suggestions for curriculum improvement (e.g., creating resources, surveying students, and peer auditing syllabi for aspects of inclusiveness). Given the increasing emphasis on inclusion in pharmacy education, this work is timely for sharing strategies aimed at faculty development and teaching practices.

Organizational commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion: A strategic path forward.

PURPOSE: To describe an approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy development at a school of pharmacy aimed at stakeholder investment and infrastructure that can address systemic challenges in various healthcare settings. SUMMARY: The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy utilized an organizational approach focused on infrastructure to produce a diverse and inclusive school community. The Office of Organizational Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) established vision and mission statements to represent the school's commitment and conducted a comprehensive environmental scan to compose a shared vision. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni participated in a series of retreats, symposiums, and focus groups to identify opportunities to cultivate a diverse and inclusive school community. A working group comprised of key leaders in the school developed and launched a 3-year DEI Strategic Plan along with initiatives and metrics for year 1. The plan's 3 priorities were (1) to recruit and retain diverse talent, (2) to prepare culturally intelligent professionals, and (3) to build an inclusive community. The ODI collaborated with internal and external stakeholders, which included students, faculty, staff, postdocs, alumni, and partners from health systems, industry, and other institutions and organizations, to initiate, implement, and monitor progress through an organizational approach to establish accountability and greater commitment. CONCLUSION: An organizational approach to DEI strategy through stakeholder engagement and infrastructure increased commitment and shared ownership among members of the school community. Applications in an organizational approach can be adapted to multiple healthcare settings to contribute to the cultural transformation necessary to develop a diverse and inclusive healthcare workforce.

Development of a Cultural Intelligence Framework in Pharmacy Education.

Objective. Pharmacists must be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to provide culturally intelligent and patient-centered care; however, most are not trained to do so. In order to prepare culturally intelligent pharmacists, standards and curricula for cultural intelligence must be defined and implemented within pharmacy education. The objective of this study was to create a cultural intelligence framework (CIF) for pharmacy education and determine its alignment with Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) training.Methods. An extensive literature analysis on current methods of cultural intelligence education was used to construct a CIF, which integrates leading models of cultural intelligence in health care education with Bloom's Taxonomy. Five student focus groups were conducted to explore and map their cultural experiences to the CIF. All focus groups were recorded, transcribed, deidentified and deductively coded using the CIF.Results. The four CIF domains (awareness, knowledge, practice, desire) were observed in all five focus groups; however, not every participant expressed each domain when sharing their experiences. Most students expressed cultural awareness, knowledge, and desire, however, only a few students discussed cultural practice. Participant comments regarding their experiences differed by race and year in the curriculum.Conclusion. This study was a first step toward understanding cultural intelligence education and experiences in pharmacy. The CIF represents an evidence-based approach to cultural intelligence training that can help prepare pharmacy learners to be socially responsible health care practitioners.

Using Simpson's diversity index to examine multidimensional models of diversity in health professions education.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored new models of diversity for health professions education that incorporate multiple attributes and examined differences in diversity based on urbanicity, geographic region, and institutional structure. METHODS: Simpson's Diversity Index was used to develop race, gender, and interprofessional diversity indices for health professions schools in the United States (N = 318). Sullivan's extension was used to develop a composite diversity index that incorporated multiple individual attributes for each school. Pearson's r was used to investigate correlations between continuous variables. ANOVA and independent t-tests were used to compare groups based on urbanicity, geographic region, and Basic Carnegie Classification. RESULTS: Mean (SD) for race, gender, and interprofessional diversity indices were 0.36(0.17), 0.45(0.07), and 0.22(0.27) respectively. All correlations between the three indices were weak. The composite diversity index for this sample was 0.34(0.13). Significant differences in diversity were found between institutions based on urbanicity, Basic Carnegie Classification, and geographic region. CONCLUSIONS: Multidimensional models provide support for expanding measures of diversity to include multiple characteristics and attributes. The approach demonstrated in this study enables institutions to complement and extend traditional measures of diversity as a means of providing evidence for decision-making and progress towards institutional initiatives.