Recognizing and Mitigating Racial and Ethnic Interview-Associated Microaggressions Across the Academy.

Microaggressions in pharmacy education interviews can have a significant impact, often reinforcing a message that underrepresented minority (URM) candidates must assimilate for acceptance, rather than being invited to contribute their authentic identities to diversify and strengthen the institution. Interviewers may ask inappropriate questions or make offensive comments without intending to cause harm; however, the impact of the words on the interviewee are valid and cannot be ignored. This text focuses on the challenges faced by URM faculty in the context of academic pharmacy interviews, which potentially contribute to their underrepresentation in academic pharmacy. The authors provide examples of perspectives and experiences from URM pharmacy faculty when interviewing for academic pharmacy positions. This article proposes several recommendations, such as microaggression prevention strategies, bias training, and institutional culture improvement. These solutions can help institutions achieve a sustainable means of recruiting and retaining URM faculty.

Academic Pharmacy Fellowship Programs are an Innovative Solution to Improve the Faculty Pipeline.

Academic pharmacy fellowship programs can offer an innovative training solution to help prepare pharmacists for successful careers as clinical faculty members. However, there is no well-defined program blueprint or recommendations for what a successful program should include. This commentary describes the program overview for the academic pharmacy fellowship at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy and discusses the implications of incorporating a similar program at a college of pharmacy. The purpose of the fellowship program is to prepare pharmacists for a career in pharmacy education through training in teaching, curriculum development, college service, mentoring, scholarship, and clinical practice. A structured program with monthly rotations in key academic areas, teaching experience and mentorship (didactics and skills labs), committee service, and leading a research project make up the core structure of the program. These experiences, coupled with significant student interaction, can prepare fellowship graduates to transition effectively into clinical faculty roles.

Evaluation of student emotional intelligence at various points in a pharmacy curriculum.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to evaluate emotional intelligence in doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students at various points in the curriculum. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, single site, observational study that included first- through fourth-year PharmD students, conducted from December 2021 to April 2022. The study used the Emotional Quotient Inventory, version 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) to obtain student emotional intelligence scores. A survey in QualtricsSM (SAP) was used to obtain baseline characteristics. The primary endpoint was the mean total EQ-i 2.0 scores comparing professional years. Secondary endpoints included mean EQ-i 2.0 scores in the composite scales of self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal, decision-making and stress-management. Change in EQ-i 2.0 scores was evaluated using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. Multivariable regression analysis identified associations between baseline characteristics and EQ-i 2.0 scores. RESULTS: A total of 137 (137/485, 28.2%) students completed the EQ-i 2.0 assessment. The mean (SD) total EQ-i 2.0 scores were 98.1 (15.5), 92.2 (15.9), 92.4 (12.9), and 103.5 (13.1), for first-, second- (P2), third- (P3), and fourth-year (P4) students, respectively. A statistically significant increase in total EQ-i 2.0 scores was noted in P4 students compared to P2 and P3 students. Work experience and leadership roles within student organizations may be associated with an increase in total EQ-i 2.0 scores. CONCLUSIONS: Emotional intelligence varied among students in different years of the pharmacy curriculum. P4 students were found to have the highest average emotional intelligence. The effect of curricular and co-curricular components on emotional intelligence development warrants further exploration.