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MEDTECH Explore how neighborhood pharmacists are tackling the Gender-Affirming Care Guide’s difficulty of comprehension and application.
The study provides a critical analysis of community pharmacists’ awareness and use of the Gender-Affirming Care Guide. Unveiled by the American Pharmacists Association and Human Rights Campaign in March 2021, the guide represents a pivotal tool for delivering competent and respectful care to transgender and gender-diverse patients. Nonetheless, reports on pharmacists’ familiarity with, and adherence to, the guide are currently lacking.
To examine this, an anonymous survey, structured around the guide’s principles, was sent to 700 Ohio community pharmacists. Of the 688 recipients, a mere 12% responded, revealing a stark lack of awareness about the guide – only 10% knew of its existence. Moreover, their self-reported ability to define key terminologies varied widely. Indeed, 95% could correctly define “transgender,” but only 14% knew “intersectionality.”
The report underscores the importance of adopting the guide’s suggested practices. Notably, it found that 61% collected patients’ preferred names, and 54% considered transgender, gender-diverse, or non-heterosexual patients during staff training. Nevertheless, less than half claimed their pharmacy software managed critical gender-related data effectively.
Despite these shortcomings, the surveyed pharmacists displayed a substantial interest in learning more about the guide’s contents. This highlights an opportunity for education, promoting greater understanding and usage of the guide.
To conclude, this study emphasizes the pressing need to increase pharmacists’ awareness of the Gender-Affirming Care Guide. It’s essential to equip these professionals with the knowledge, skills, and tools to deliver culturally competent care. In doing so, we can bridge the existing gaps and ultimately improve health equity for transgender and gender-diverse patients.
