A Canadian perspective of pharmacy education for students belonging to diverse groups

Attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is on the rise in Canada, the United States, and the world. While there are evolving efforts across various sectors, post-secondary institutions, in particular, are growing in EDI efforts. For health professional programs, including pharmacy, health disparities are addressed and improvements in health care are realized when faculty are committed to EDI in hiring, admissions, and teaching and learning. To inform the direction and highlight the importance of further EDI research, programming, and evaluation, this paper analyzes the existing literature in pharmacy education and the education of diverse groups.

Several databases were searched, resulting in 17 articles of varying scopes (e.g., reviews, commentaries, reports) that capture principles of pharmacy education for diverse or marginalized students. While other articles were screened for inclusion, the concepts of culture, equity, diversity, and inclusion were presented as part of classroom and curricular topics (e.g., learning about the topics) and did not contain mention or evaluation of the education of diverse or marginalized students in pharmacy.

Pharmacy education literature for diverse and/or marginalized student groups is limited. While significant publications exist regarding pharmacy education about EDI, little attention has been given to how pharmacy programs and educators may adapt their teaching and learning practices, policies, procedures, and admission processes to move beyond the status quo.

Findings from this review will better inform pharmacy education programs to engage in the research and practice of conscious continuous improvement of safe spaces for diverse pharmacy students.