Diversifying the Team

Abstract

How do you define diversity in departmental or team environment? This question was posed to attendees of a pharmacy practice department heads roundtable session at American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) 2007 Annual Meeting. Most of responses fit into 1 of 3 categories: * Usually based on ethnicity/race. Also considers gender. * Valuable differences in members of team contributed by culture and * Multicultural/racial/gender. What is most striking about proffered definitions is that they tend to suggest emphasis on one dimension of diversity: demographics (eg, race, gender). Demographic diversity is, without question, critically important to academia, and much has been written about its significance in health professions. According to Institute of Medicine, increased demographic diversity among health professionals is related to greater access to health care in minority patient populations, improved patient options and satisfaction, better communication between health care professionals and patients, and more effective educational experiences for students of health science programs. (1) Recognizing significance of demographic diversity in academic pharmacy setting, AACP set forth an Issue Brief addressing diversity as it relates to pharmacy education, (2) and Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education has incorporated mandates related to diversity in its accreditation standards for academic pharmacy programs including demonstrated commitment (such as a values statement) on part of program to encourage faculty and student diversity. (3) Yet, demographic diversity is only one piece of larger diversity puzzle in academic pharmacy practice. In fact, this Viewpoint defines diversity in a more encompassing manner, similar to definition of Magazine Publishers of America (MPA): the act of recognizing, appreciating, valuing, and utilizing unique talents and contributions of all individuals regardless of differences or similarities relating to age, color, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, language, national origin, physical appearance, disability, marital, parental or family status, communication or management style, educational level or background, [and] speed of learning or comprehension. (4) I further expanded MPA's definition to include experiential diversity, which is integral to academic pharmacy. Experiential diversity in a department of pharmacy practice can be defined as intellectual depth developed from a faculty with diverse disciplines/fields and professional and research experiences. Elements of experiential diversity include discipline/field of interest, practice, academic rank/appointment, and work experience. Promoting diversity in academic pharmacy practice is an attempt to reach a critical mass in order to have an intellectually stimulating environment to benefit students, faculty members, and society. Thus, this Viewpoints will address challenges and benefits of integrating a culture of diversity into academic pharmacy practice departments and set forth recommendations to diversify team. There are several challenges to building diversity within academic pharmacy practice. In order to have diversification, we must have a viable pipeline for recruitment. Foremost among challenges of recruiting faculty members include questionable or lack of interest in academia as a career, lower salary, and increased training requirements. The demand for pharmacy practice faculty candidates is high for several reasons including 30% increase in number of colleges/schools of pharmacy in past 20 years, as well as increased class enrollment among established colleges/schools of pharmacy. (5) Further restricting pool of potential candidates is competition from private sector, which offers salaries generally well above those found in academia (with sign-on and other bonuses frequently available). …