Advancing the conversation: A review of scholarly activity for curricular interventions for sexually- and gender-diverse patients in pharmacy education.

Background: Educational interventions are required to train pharmacists to provide culturally safe care to sexually- and gender-diverse patients. Programming must promote inclusivity and should also focus on systemwide change. The aim of this review was to identify, summarize, and map scholarly activity with respect to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus (LGBTQ+) health in entry-to-practice pharmacy curricula.

Methods: An electronic search of Medline, EMBASE, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts was conducted to search for relevant literature up to May 2021. This search was supplemented with a keyword search of three pharmacy education journals. Articles were included in the review if they described an educational intervention for entry-to-practice pharmacy students related to health for sexually- or gender-diverse patients.

Results: Five articles met inclusion criteria. All articles reported interventions relating to gender-diverse patients. One reported interventions relating to sexually-diverse patients and another was deemed unclear. Four articles reported single teaching events or short modules, and one article reported a full course. Incorporating real patients into teaching events to share their experiences with the health system was consistently received positively by students.

Implications: Scholars involved in developing and implementing educational interventions related to health for sexually- and gender-diverse patients should be encouraged to contribute to the scholarly conversation by sharing successful experiences, as well as lessons learned. Future areas of expansion include integration of sexual and gender minority health across curricula and including content to prepare students for implementing and supporting systemwide change.