A cross-sectional survey evaluating transgender-related care education in United States pharmacy school curricula

Introduction: The objectives of this study are to evaluate the extent of transgender-related care in current pharmacy school curricula, identify where transgender-related care is covered in the curriculum, describe how the content is delivered to pharmacy students, and review how student knowledge of transgender-related care is evaluated. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized an online survey of curricular contacts of 142 pharmacy schools in the United States. Survey questions regarding transgender-related care were presented as multiple choice, ranking, and free-response. The survey inquired about transgender-related care information taught, teaching methods, hours of education, and student assessment. Results: Of the 66 schools that responded to the survey, 53% indicated that transgender-related education is a topic that is currently addressed somewhere within the curriculum. Twenty-two pharmacy schools incorporate this topic into the didactic curriculum, two into the experiential curriculum, and 10 into both didactic and experiential. Transgender-related care is only taught in the required curriculum of 41.2% of schools that responded to the survey. Conclusion: Transgender-related care education is taught to variable degrees throughout US doctor of pharmacy programs. This study should serve as a call to action to incorporate this necessary transgender-related care education and training into pharmacy curricula to effectively reduce health disparities among this population that is increasingly seeking care.