Page 14 - RPA Magazine December 2020

12 INDUSTRY EDCATION EMBRACING DIVERSITY BWy Colm Maguire, Group Executive, Member Services and Innovation Group, Pharmacy Guild of Australia. e’re lucky to be involved in a sector of the healthcare profession where diversity is so much a part of our everyday working lives – whether through our colleagues or the patients that visit us every day. Everywhere we go we see the makeup of pharmacy assistants reflecting this diversity through gender, culture, race, religion, ethnicity and other factors. While this is great to see, we must not become complacent because continuing to ensure we have the right balance of diversity is critical to the long-term future of the profession. It is this approach that makes our ability to connect with the community so valuable. It has been well documented that diversity provides a wide range of benefits to any business. Quite simply, workplace diversity is a key factor in breaking down the limiting factors that can prevent employees from achieving their full professional potential. And not fulfilling your full professional potential means patients may not be getting the best possible service or care from us. While inequality in community pharmacy has been greatly reduced over time, there’s still more we can do at what is both an exciting and challenging time for the industry. Our workforce has a higher representation of females – both as pharmacists and pharmacy assistants – than many other sectors and this is good for the businesses we work for, as well as for our patients. Over recent years, the profession of community pharmacy has undergone dramatic demographic shifts with an increasing number of women entering the profession – to the extent that now most pharmacy graduates coming out of our universities are women. As we continue to move into evermore challenging periods for community pharmacy, this diversity will be an important aspect in ensuring our ongoing growth and business health. To this end, it has been fantastic to see so many male pharmacy assistants in the Pharmacy Assistant of the Year Awards. I’m a great advocate of diversity being a common-sense matter of good business, good management and good governance. In particular, I think we need to focus on a model of community pharmacy that reflects the diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, age, background and location. In so many ways, the pharmacy reflects the local community, and this is exactly why this diversity is clearly on display in our businesses. As I say, we must not become complacent, so I urge you all to work to increase diversity in your workplace. We can often migrate to one example of what diversity is, but it means so much more. It can be hard work. Just talking about diversity doesn’t make it happen. You may have to sit down with your proprietor and managers, and fellow staff, to discuss how best to improve or understand what diversity means for you. I’m sure they will be receptive, particularly if you highlight the patient benefits from such an approach. If all the staff are similar in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, culture, age and background, or think the same way, then we’re missing opportunities to approach things differently or engage with our patients, who are so diverse in their needs or backgrounds. Once you have everyone on the staff recognising what diversity looks like for you, the next step is to see that it’s implemented and encouraged. The example of diversity of ethnicity in your pharmacy highlights this and needs to reflect the demographics of the community. For instance, if your pharmacy doesn’t reflect the makeup of the community you serve, some patients may be missing out on essential care or feeling more comfortable attending somewhere that does. It’s human nature to want to feel comfortable or understood, and diversity can go a long way to assisting that outcome. Having someone patients can relate to breaks this barrier down, and over time trust with the whole pharmacy staff group is built up. So, maybe you should take the time to ponder or reflect on what diversity means to you, what your local community looks like and how your business can embrace diversity. RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • DEC 2020