How Cultural Competency Impacts Social Determinants of Health in Pharmacy

Jacinda C. Abdul-Mutakabbir aka “JAM”, PharmD, MPH, AAHIVP, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy, spoke to Pharmacy Time about his session at McKesson ideaShare 2022 called “Cultural Competence in Pharmacy Practice”.

JAM: Okay, so social skills affect, you know, what affects health. Therefore, access to health care depends on the education that people are able to receive. So when there’s an imbalance there, then people don’t have access to health care. But if we are culturally aware, then we know what affects people’s health and how racism and transphobia homophobia can contribute, to things that affect health. And we know that if we develop our cultural skills, then we can deal with different isms and different phobias. Therefore, when we think about what affects people’s health, we don’t have to say anything against SDOH, we can say, this is what determines health. However, we have worked hard to reduce the gaps because we have developed our agricultural skills and we have been able to fight discrimination, homophobia that can lead to not being culturally aware or having the right care. .