The role of a pharmacist has evolved in the recent years. Especially in the last 10 years, pharmacists have welcomed many positive changes related to the care of the patients. In addition, they have started to support training and conversations related to the care of the LGBTQ patients.
Pharmacists play an important role in today's society. They stand in the front when it comes to providing quality and affirming care to the patients. That is the primary reason why training is so important for them.
According to reports, Wegmans School of Pharmacy introduces students to LGBTQ patients in the first year of the program. The students are introduced to new terminologies and are also provided with an opportunity to interact with the LGBTQ patients.
Moreover, the environment of interaction between both the parties is such that it allows students to ask questions from the patients of the LGBTQ community and also receive feedback from them since they may encounter the same patients later in the careers.
According to Jennifer L. Mathews of the Wegmans School of Pharmacy, the authorities also provide training to community preceptors and pharmacists who help provide hands-on training to students who work in the pharmacies. However, such people are only a fraction of the entire population of pharmacy students and practising pharmacists.
A study conducted recently on the curriculum of pharmacy schools discovered that less than 50 percent of the schools have LGBTQ content covered as a part of their syllabus. The schools that covered the content allotted only one to three hours within the curriculum and the topics were primarily related to HIV and AIDS.
In addition, most of the programs reported that there is only a little faculty development for teaching the LGBTQ content.
