Prescription for inclusive healthcare

“There has been a very long history of disenfranchising our 2SLGBTQ+ communities, and that has led to this ongoing mistrust in our healthcare professionals, including pharmacists,” notes Alex. “Patients and study participants have often shared that one negative experience with a healthcare provider can turn them away from seeing future healthcare providers for their healthcare needs—whether it's gender-affirming care, or whether it's care related to other aspects of their lives, because they don't feel affirmed and they feel like there's a lack of trust with their healthcare provider.”
 
After a 2019 House of Commons Standing Committee on Health recommended that sexual and gender diversity be included in health professional training, Tristan and Alex decided to take concrete action. “In order to address that call, we really need to start from within our program to see how we can better enact these changes through the education of our future graduates, and hopefully eventually drive changes within pharmacy practice,” explains Tristan.

In 2021, he and Alex secured a UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund and launched this work in partnership with community organizations, including Ribbon Community (formerly AIDS Vancouver), Health Initiative for Men, QMUNITY, Community-Based Research Centre, Trans Care BC and WISH Drop-In Centre Society.  
 
They also brought together a Queer Curriculum Advisory Committee, which includes community members and partners, alongside students, faculty, staff and UBC stakeholders. “We’re very driven by the idea of cross-pollinating with stakeholders, but also knowledge holders from various disciplines,” says Tristan. 

“The workshop really helped our faculty and staff challenge dominant cis-heteronormative discourses within their lives, as well as in classroom spaces,” observes Alex. “One thing I truly appreciate about the UBC community is that there is such an openness to cross-collaboration, between not just health disciplines, but also across Faculties. The reality is, as pharmacists, we need to be communicators with our patients. We can have all the knowledge instilled in us, but we need to be able to communicate that effectively, professionally and ethically. Involving colleagues from the Department of English helps to promote the language skills that we need to see in our graduates, especially when they're providing care for our communities.”