Embedding cultural safety in pharmacy education

National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Trent Twomey, will be a guest speaker at one of the webinars, titled What are we doing? being held on 28 October, with registration via https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uftfFB2QS3iLut46dSfMxw

The podcasts, webinars and events follow the release of APC’s literature review: “Approaches to implementation of cultural safety in the training and education of health professionals in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America”.

The review was based on the recognition Australian pharmacy students must demonstrate awareness of and sensitivity to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and promote and advocate for cultural safety, respect and responsiveness.

On graduation students should be committed to the improvement of the health and wellbeing of First Nations peoples, and capable of practising in ways that are culturally safe, sensitive and responsive.

To progress this, the APC’s series of events rely on storytelling, interviews, presentations and panel discussions to discuss embedding cultural safety in pharmacist education, training and practice.

It is divided into four conversations.

• Conversation 1: Who are we here for (podcast)?
• Conversation 2: What do we know (webinar)?
• Conversation 3: What are we doing (webinar)?
• Conversation 4: Where do we go from here (webinar)?

APC says a driver behind the work is that many factors have contributed to the inequalities and disparities experienced by First Nations peoples over many years.

“.. and a number of strategic, targeted and integrated approaches are necessary to address and redress their causes and effects. One critical strategy is the creation of a culturally capable, safe and sensitive health workforce, and the institutions responsible for educating health professionals therefore have a central role in this regard.”

More details are available at https://www.pharmacycouncil.org.au/media-hub/Embedding-cultural-safety-in-pharmacy-education-and-assessments/