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Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings

BACKGROUND: Discrimination towards pharmacists, as a public-facing health professional group, is reported but not well-studied. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to identify accounts of discrimination in pharmacy practice and to explore the nature and impacts of and discrimination experienced...

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Autores principales: Chun, Lik De, Ye, Rebecca, Wilby, Kyle J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Centro de Investigaciones y Publicaciones Farmaceuticas 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7427610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32831976
http://dx.doi.org/10.18549/PharmPract.2020.3.1966
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author Chun, Lik De
Ye, Rebecca
Wilby, Kyle J.
author_facet Chun, Lik De
Ye, Rebecca
Wilby, Kyle J.
author_sort Chun, Lik De
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Discrimination towards pharmacists, as a public-facing health professional group, is reported but not well-studied. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to identify accounts of discrimination in pharmacy practice and to explore the nature and impacts of and discrimination experienced by pharmacists. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was emailed to practice-based preceptors associated with the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago. The survey included demographic questions, in addition to questions asking about the frequency and sources of different types of discrimination and abuse encountered in practice. Survey respondents could also provide their contact information for follow-up interviews. Interviews occurred after completion of the survey to better understand the nature of discrimination in pharmacy practice. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was conducted to identify pertinent themes. RESULTS: A total of 43 participants completed the survey. A total of 29 (67.4%) respondents reported experiencing discrimination in pharmacy practice. The most common types of discrimination experienced included discrimination based on gender, appearance, or past, present, or expected pregnancy. Verbal abuse and sexual harassment were also frequently reported. Most discrimination was sourced from patients, colleagues, or supervisors/leaders. Discrimination specific to pregnancy was largely sourced from supervisors/leaders. Verbal abuse was sources primarily from patients, patient’s family, supervisors/leaders, and other healthcare professionals. Patients were the primary source of sexual harassment. Three themes were identified from the interview phase: Discrimination occurs for a variety of reasons from different sources with different behaviors, the impact on a person is individualized/personal, and preventative strategies can be broad and encompass multiple layers of society. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study support the notion that training programs must adjust to adequately train pharmacists with effective coping strategies, prevention mechanisms, and resilience building strategies. Pharmacist employers should also be accountable to creating zero tolerance workplaces and providing route maps for how pharmacists report and navigate situations when faced with discrimination. Doing so may result in a better equipped workforce that is able to navigate the pressures encountered through discrimination in practice.
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spelling pubmed-74276102020-08-20 Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings Chun, Lik De Ye, Rebecca Wilby, Kyle J. Pharm Pract (Granada) Original Research BACKGROUND: Discrimination towards pharmacists, as a public-facing health professional group, is reported but not well-studied. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to identify accounts of discrimination in pharmacy practice and to explore the nature and impacts of and discrimination experienced by pharmacists. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was emailed to practice-based preceptors associated with the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago. The survey included demographic questions, in addition to questions asking about the frequency and sources of different types of discrimination and abuse encountered in practice. Survey respondents could also provide their contact information for follow-up interviews. Interviews occurred after completion of the survey to better understand the nature of discrimination in pharmacy practice. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was conducted to identify pertinent themes. RESULTS: A total of 43 participants completed the survey. A total of 29 (67.4%) respondents reported experiencing discrimination in pharmacy practice. The most common types of discrimination experienced included discrimination based on gender, appearance, or past, present, or expected pregnancy. Verbal abuse and sexual harassment were also frequently reported. Most discrimination was sourced from patients, colleagues, or supervisors/leaders. Discrimination specific to pregnancy was largely sourced from supervisors/leaders. Verbal abuse was sources primarily from patients, patient’s family, supervisors/leaders, and other healthcare professionals. Patients were the primary source of sexual harassment. Three themes were identified from the interview phase: Discrimination occurs for a variety of reasons from different sources with different behaviors, the impact on a person is individualized/personal, and preventative strategies can be broad and encompass multiple layers of society. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study support the notion that training programs must adjust to adequately train pharmacists with effective coping strategies, prevention mechanisms, and resilience building strategies. Pharmacist employers should also be accountable to creating zero tolerance workplaces and providing route maps for how pharmacists report and navigate situations when faced with discrimination. Doing so may result in a better equipped workforce that is able to navigate the pressures encountered through discrimination in practice. Centro de Investigaciones y Publicaciones Farmaceuticas 2020 2020-08-24 /pmc/articles/PMC7427610/ /pubmed/32831976 http://dx.doi.org/10.18549/PharmPract.2020.3.1966 Text en Copyright: © Pharmacy Practice and the Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Chun, Lik De
Ye, Rebecca
Wilby, Kyle J.
Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
title Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
title_full Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
title_fullStr Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
title_full_unstemmed Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
title_short Exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
title_sort exploring discrimination towards pharmacists in practice settings
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7427610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32831976
http://dx.doi.org/10.18549/PharmPract.2020.3.1966
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