Status: This project is complete
Recent published literature has highlighted how bias in clinical interactions between patients and their primary care providers may hinder the efficacy of medical care and reduce patient adherence. While pharmacy services are highly accessible to patients, the degree to which such bias impacts the pharmacist–patient relationship has been poorly studied in the Canadian context.
Research question
In a desire to determine if Ontario pharmacist’s accessibility is as cognitively developed as it is spatially distributed, the Ontario College of Pharmacists has requested that the following questions be addressed through a comprehensive scoping review of existing grey and published literature:
- What is the current understanding of bias (racial, ethnic, gendered, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status) and its impact on pharmacist–client relationships?
- How do we define bias and what are the most effective ways to measure impact?
Should the above questions yield limited published evidence regarding the relationship between pharmacists and the public, the following will also be explored:
- What evidence, if any, is available on the health consequences of bias as it relates to primary care and other healthcare providers?
Submitter: Marshall Moleschi, Registrar
Ontario College of Pharmacists
Project lead: Nancy Waite
For more information, please contact Susan Dimitry, AHRQ administrator.
Publications and presentations
Findings from this applied health research question have been published in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy —
Wenger LM, Rosenthal M, Sharpe JP, Waite N. Confronting inequities: A scoping review of the literature on pharmacist practice and health-related disparities. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2016;12(2):175–217.
2015 Canadian Pharmacists Conference • Ottawa, ON • May 28–31, 2015
- Confronting inequities: A review of the literature on pharmacist practice and health care disparities (poster, abstract as PDF)
Wenger L, Pearson-Sharpe J, Rosenthal M, Waite N