Commentary

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Fills the DEI Prescription

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • June 8, 2023

Looking for a woke pharmacist? Your search won’t take very long, if the largest professional pharmacy association in the United States has its way.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is the accrediting body for pharmacy residency and technician training programs and has the attention of 60,000 practitioners is a variety of care settings. That’s a substantial reach for initiatives like the ones outlined in its strategic plan, which show that the organization has more goal objectives for advancing DEI than it has for member satisfaction and meeting customer needs.

Figure 1. Six DEI goal objectives from the ASHP strategic plan.
Figure 2. Five member satisfaction goal objectives from the ASHP strategic plan
Figure 3. Three customer needs goal objectives from the ASHP strategic plan.

ASHP also has a Task Force on Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, formed in June 2020. The recommendations from this task force were released in January 2021 and are currently being implemented across the organization. The first order of business in the report was “to reflect more inclusive language” by providing information on the term “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)”:

According to the BIPOC Project, the term is used “to highlight the unique relationship to whiteness that Indigenous and Black (African Americans) people have.”

Examples of task force recommendations are:

  • Appoint more racially diverse committees
  • “Increase the presence of BIPOC” in award and recognition programs
  • Training to reduce implicit bias in residency programs and application screening
  • Consider establishing a scholarship for BIPOC students
  • Collect member demographic information on race/ethnicity
Figure 4. From “Report of the ASHP Task Force on Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (January 2021).

ASHP subsequently released the task force’s 2022 Implementation Report to provide an update on progress made in initiating these recommendations. The CEO’s introduction set the tone for the expected outcomes of the DEI initiatives by stating that events from the summer of 2020 “caused a reckoning of our own,” noting that ASHP “took immediate steps to reshape ASHP policies and procedures.”

Figure 5. From “ASHP Task Force on Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: 2022 Implementation Report” (December 2022).

Beyond these reports, the CEO has been continuing to communicate this reshaping of the organization and pharmacy profession to the ASHP membership. In a March 3, 2023 blog post, he stated that increasing diversity in hospital and health system pharmacists is achieved “through systemic efforts by connecting with schools that have high BIPOC engagement.” However, the most concerning information from this post came from the announcement of an upcoming scholarship and a current grant program that endorses discrimination and ideology over scientific inquiry.

He announced the launch of the inaugural ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Student Scholarship, a $25,000 award that is limited to applicants enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) pharmacy programs. Plus, applicants must demonstrate “a commitment to health equity.”

The Pharmacy Leadership Scholars program, supported by Chiesi (a European pharmaceutical company that researches specialty medications), grants $10,000 to early-stage scientists “to fund meaningful research on diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Two projects funded by this program are Diversity and inclusion in Pharmacy Education within Integrated Healthcare Delivery System and Role of Implicit Bias on Prescription Duration of Chronic Medications.

The CEO’s message concluded by establishing the organization’s future direction. “In addition to ASHP’s focus on race and ethnicity,” he stated, “we are bolstering our work in areas including gender, LGBTQIA+, and persons with disabilities.” Members can access resources on these initiatives in the ASHP Inclusion Center and its repository of articles, continuing education webinars, and podcasts.

Figure 6. Featured resources in the ASHP Inclusion Center.

The ASHP’s mission and vision says it wants to help people and support professional pharmacy practice and advocacy for safe medication use. This is the message the ASHP needs to convey in its influence over pharmacy school guidelines and residency program requirements – not a diversion into the divisive concepts of DEI that have disrupted the academic standards of so many U.S. medical schools – as it serves its members and future practitioners.

Have you seen divisive and discriminatory practices or scholarships in pharmacy schools? Do No Harm wants to hear from you – anonymously and securely.