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Of 1795 publications identified, 8 were RCTs meeting selection criteria for evaluation of the effect of MTM services on patient outcomes. Two service elements that benefit patient care were identified: (1) selecting patients with specific therapeutic problems and (2) implementing MTM services that involve timely communication with primary care providers to discuss therapeutic problems, along with routine patient follow-up to support medication adherence to changes in therapy.

Objective. To describe the representation of racial and ethnic minorities among faculty members (faculty) in schools and colleges of pharmacy (COP) compared to US Census Bureau data; to evaluate the representation of racial and ethnic minorities in historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), newer doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs, and PharmD programs with a religious affiliation compared with all pharmacy programs; and to compare racial and ethnic pharmacy faculty data to trends in medical and dental schools, and all higher education. Methods. Information was obtained from national databases and published reports; data was comparatively evaluated. Results. Compared to the general population, Asians are overrepresented in pharmacy, while all other minority groups are underrepresented. The HBCUs, newer schools, and religious-affiliated institutions have greater numbers of African American/Black faculty. Newer schools also have better representation of Hispanic faculty. Pharmacy has been more successful than medicine and dentistry in recruiting African American/Black faculty, but lag behind dental schools in their representation of Hispanic faculty. Conclusion. To meet the health care needs of the population, we recommend the implementation of short-term and long-term diversity and inclusion strategies that address minority representation in COP.

Objective. To analyze the ethnic and racial diversity of faculty in pharmacy, medicine and dentistry and suggest how pipeline for pharmacy academe can be diversified. Methods. A retrospective analysis of the representativeness of faculty at colleges and schools of pharmacy was compared to that in medicine and dentistry. The range of ethnic and racial diversity across top schools of pharmacy, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and newer schools of pharmacy were evaluated for both faculty and students for the year 2019-20. The ethnic and racial diversity in residency and fellowship programs along with graduation rates provided insight into the available pipeline for future pharmacy faculty. Results. Faculty in pharmacy, medicine and dentistry demonstrated similarly low representation of underrepresented minorities (URM) compared to their composition in the US population. Dentistry has the largest percentage of URMs (13.9%) compared with 8.5% in pharmacy and 7.1% in medicine. Five HBCUs contribute 32.8% of the Black faculty, but have comparatively low residency match rates. Representation of URMs in post-PharmD and graduate training programs is lower than their representation in programs of pharmacy. Conclusion. Lack of postgraduate residency or fellowship training is a major barrier to progression to pharmacy academe and impacts URMs more significantly. Removing or decreasing barriers to advanced training must be addressed to create the needed diverse pipeline for pharmacy academe. Without intervention, students in pharmacy programs will be primarily trained by non-URM faculty, which may impact how they provide care in an increasingly diverse patient population.

Background: As the United States becomes more culturally diverse, health professionals must be able to demonstrate competency in caring for a multitude of diverse patients. The cultural proficiency continuum has proven to be an effective framework to assess where individuals and institutions are on the continuum of cultural sensitivity and competence in educational settings. Innovation: A co-curricular activity was developed as an exercise in self-awareness to allow first year pharmacy students the opportunity to explore potential biases by evaluating comfort in both social and patient care settings. The 90-minute activity employed a lecture, followed by both small and large group discussions and a debriefing session. Findings: Student survey responses showed their appreciation of this framework and its application to patient-centered care. Student self-rated knowledge increased by 3 points on a 10-point scale after completion of the activity. Students agreed that their level of cultural awareness would lead them to respond appropriately in cross-cultural situations, and that the provision of care is dependent on approaches that are culturally proficient. Conclusion: This activity dismantles the misconception of cultural competence as an attainable finite skill, but instead presents it as an ongoing process of self-awareness. The co-curricular activity offers an easy to implement model of education that could potentially fit the needs of pharmacy programs searching for ideas to teach cultural competency and social determinants of health, while circumventing the need to affect curricular structure.   Article Type: Note