School of Pharmacy PharmD students create DiveRxsity Dialogues event to facilitate conversations about inclusive patient care

By Maren Stewart and Katie Gerhards

When you’re experiencing housing instability, how do you manage your health and how do you access care? A recent study found that among unhoused people, the rate of kidney disease is 27 percent, the rate of diabetes is 26 percent, and the rate of serious heart conditions is 45 percent. How does housing instability impact patients’ ability to get the care they need, and how can pharmacists help?

This is one of the topics taken up in a new event at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy, conceived and created by the School’s PharmD students. The DiveRxsity Dialogues event, funded with grant support from Phi Lambda Sigma (PLS), served to bring students, faculty, and staff together to discuss a range of unique patient circumstances that can influence their care and outcomes. In addition to housing instability, topics covered health disparities, including those with disabilities and the need for gender-affirming care.

“As student pharmacists, we must advocate for our patients by understanding their lived experiences.”
—Reem Salah

As the most accessible healthcare provider, pharmacists take an oath that vows to care for all patients by “advancing health equity, assuring optimal outcomes for all patients, and advocating for changes that improve patient care.” PharmD students embraced the professional development opportunity to engage more deeply with certain patient populations during the DiveRxsity Dialogues event.

“When I got to the breakout sessions, the speakers introduced us to lived experiences that I realized I knew very little about. I was grateful to be able to hear and learn more,” says second-year PharmD student Reem Salah. “As student pharmacists, we must advocate for our patients by understanding their lived experiences.”

Identifying a need

“We created this as a dialogue because we don’t have all the answers,” says third-year PharmD student Mara Gosch and PLS chapter president, who helped organize the event. “We are all collectively learning and growing. We wanted to create an opportunity for the School as a whole to engage in conversations with peers and faculty members about how we can create more inclusive learning, working, and practice environments that improve patient outcomes.”

Gosch and PLS student leaders partnered with two other pharmacy student organizations, PRIDE in Healthcare and SNPhA (Student National Pharmaceutical Association).

“As an organization dedicated to promoting and recognizing leadership, we felt we could do a better job uplifting other voices at the School of Pharmacy,” says Gosch.

Together, the group quickly zeroed in on an opportunity to create conversations about how to provide inclusive care to improve health equity and patient outcomes.

“There is a growing focus on health disparities in the curriculum,” says third-year PharmD student Amy Bowles, PLS secretary. “But we wanted to explore ways to integrate the knowledge of these disparities into our interactions with patients in a meaningful way.”

They drafted a compelling grant application, receiving the full requested amount, and then recruited additional students from PLS, PRIDE, and SNPhA to help bring the event to life.

Third-year PharmD student Yoonsoo Kim, SNPhA co-president, was eager to assist in the goal of fostering an inclusive mindset in student pharmacists.

“DiveRxsity Dialogues served as an opportunity for students to explore and engage with topics related to cultural competence, empathy, and effective communication across diverse patient populations,” says Kim. “By including SNPhA, which advocates for cultural competency and minority representation within the pharmacy profession, the dialogues are enriched with insights and perspectives that are essential for future pharmacists.”

Opening the dialogue

After months of planning, DiveRxsity Dialogues commenced with a keynote address by Sally Arif, professor of pharmacy at Midwestern University and previous speaker at a recent American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy conference. Arif spoke on the importance of cultivating inclusion in pharmacy and navigating the three I’s: identity, implicit bias, and inclusion.

“I was thrilled when students shared this idea with me, as it really shows how aware and engaged they are with concepts related to health equity,” says Lisa Imhoff, the School’s associate dean of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Attendees could choose one of several expert-facilitated breakout sessions for greater awareness of certain patient populations: discussion on gender-affirming care, how racism impacts healthcare, caring for patients with disabilities, and housing instability.

The sessions served as catalysts for critical reflection and empathy, essential components of patient-centered care. The session about housing instability, for example — led by Amy Parins, the medical co-director of the Salvation Army Clinic — held discussions about how a lack of transportation is a barrier to care, as well as the environmental, behavioral, and social and economic factors that also influence patients’ health.

“Hearing stories of how patients have declined a free hotel room on a cold winter night because they didn’t want to leave their home brought a new perspective to me on what home is to a patient,” says Bowles. “As future healthcare professionals, we need to learn to collaborate with our patients on their living situation as opposed to offering what we may think is best.”

Another breakout session, hosted by social worker Annie Bruns and nurse Erika Enk of University Health Services, covered how to improve the care provided to transgender and gender-diverse individuals — including awareness of health disparities relating to depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and suicide. Yet another addressed how different forms of racism influence healthcare and ultimately affect patients.

“Dr. Jonas Lee of UW Health encouraged us to consider how health disparities result, in large part, from systemic racism and inequitable healthcare policies,” says Gosch. “To address this, he stressed the importance of creating a sense of belonging for others, embracing a growth mindset, and taking the time to truly listen and learn from patients.”

Nick Apitz, a second-year PharmD student, was impressed with the event’s emphasis on disability awareness, enriching his understanding of inclusive pharmacy practices. The breakout session, led by Helen Rottier of the UW McBurney Resource Center, focused broadly on physical and “invisible” disabilities, including medical phobia, and how to create a comfortable and supportive environment.

“Caring for people with disabilities is so complex because of how unique each person’s life situation is,” says Apitz. “Being able to have an event that highlighted people living with disabilities and speaking to their own experiences added so much to my own understanding of practicing pharmacy.”

Continuing the conversation

After the event, 100 percent of survey respondents indicated that the event inspired them to make changes in their personal or professional lives, particularly as it relates to language. Some attendees noted their intention to shift from phrases like “disabled person” to “person with a disability,” to reflect that a disability doesn’t define a person. Others are most committed to dropping the phrase “at home” when collecting medication histories or giving discharge instructions, in recognition that “home” might not resonate the same with every patient.

“I want to share more with others about these topics and my personal commitment to continuing to have these important conversations,” one attendee wrote. “I want to be more conscious of the language I use and lean into that feeling of being mildly uncomfortable to better care for my future patients and create welcoming, inclusive working environments.”

The attendees and organizers alike hope that this will be the first in a series of events like DiveRxsity Dialogues to give students more opportunities to consider patients’ unique circumstances so they can become better patient-centered pharmacists.

“We are committed to keeping this conversation alive and engaging more stakeholders in our journey towards empowering current and future pharmacy leaders to embrace diversity and inclusion as a lifelong learning process.”
—Mara Gosch

“As university students pursuing pharmacy degrees, our primary focus naturally revolves around understanding various medications and their applications,” says Kim. “However, the role of pharmacists extends far beyond dispensing prescriptions, and they are integral members of healthcare teams responsible for providing patient consultation and care. Therefore, understanding diverse patient backgrounds becomes paramount for the future.”

PharmD students suggested a range of topics for the next DiveRxsity Dialogues to explore, such as considerations for Indigenous populations, birthing disparities, incarcerated patients, generational diversity, language barriers, and more.

“We are committed to keeping this conversation alive and engaging more stakeholders in our journey towards empowering current and future pharmacy leaders to embrace diversity and inclusion as a lifelong learning process,” says Gosch.