First-year University of Florida College of Pharmacy students across the Gainesville, Jacksonville, and Orlando campuses displayed their research on the health disparities affecting several medically vulnerable populations during the Pharmacy and Population Health poster session held Sept. 18.
As part of the course Pharmacy and Population Health — taught by lead instructor John Allen, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCCCP, FCCM, FCCP, associate dean and clinical associate professor in the UF College of Pharmacy — the poster session activity saw students form teams to first determine a health disparity that people from the historically undersupported populations they were assigned routinely face. Then, the students spent weeks collaboratively researching the causes of disparities and brainstorming multi-level interventions that incorporate pharmacists to solve these challenges. Allen said the course and this team exercise provide critical lessons that budding health professionals must master in order to become culturally competent, humble, and compassionate practitioners.
“This course provides foundational knowledge about several factors that influence the health of patients, including social and structural determinants of health, health literacy, and health policy. Having a deeper understanding that health is impacted by things outside of the health care system is vital to our students being able to meet the needs of their future patients,” Allen said. “This activity helps to broaden the students’ exposure to different patient populations who they may encounter when they graduate and ensures they can see pharmacists as essential partners in helping to eliminate health disparities in vulnerable populations.”
Allen said Pharmacy and Population Health centers around a socioecological model of health, which considers the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and health policy factors that influence population health. During the course, students learn from a variety of professionals, including Florida House Representative Gallop Franklin, Pharm.D., about how social determinants of health influence population health and how health policy is developed and implemented.
“I hope that the students gain a different perspective about a population they may not have known about prior to the class,” he said. “Also, I hope that with as diverse as the different assigned populations are, they can identify common themes that cause health disparities, whether they be low health care access and quality, low health literacy, or social and community factors.”
During the Sept. 18 poster session held at the Gainesville campus, students Landon Klein and Lucia Martin Rubio displayed their research poster, “Health Disparities in Rural America,” which they completed with classmates Julianna Schulz, Shayraniz Luyanda Martinez, Rashel Gonzalez, and Kaley Thornton. This team utilized data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify two medical issues disproportionately facing Americans living in rural communities: heart disease and unintentional injuries.
“Rural Americans have 40% more likelihood of suffering from heart disease. That’s a very shocking number,” Martin Rubio said. “We looked for social determinants that influenced those outcomes, and we looked at health literacy in these areas. In rural communities, people often don’t have access to grocery stores, fresh food, or parks to exercise in. As Dr. Allen said in one of his lectures, ‘The choices we make are directly related to the choices we have.’ All these factors are things they’re not responsible for, yet they contribute to their poor health outcomes.”
“It’s really hard to picture rural America not having access to health care. It’s tough to think about,” Klein said. “I’m from a rural population, and I’ve seen firsthand how health disparities can affect a population, and even people I love. Health disparities are preventable most of the time. It’s really important for us to achieve health equity for all so that everyone can achieve their healthiest self.”
Gainesville students Aaron Chen and Nicole Padro also presented their poster, “Incarcerated People: Health Disparities and Solutions,” which they created with classmates Tabitha Bryant, Braden Beaney, Landen Lockhart, and Lizbeth Mejay-Garcia. They identified cancer, asthma, and COVID-19 as medical issues affecting incarcerated people at disproportionate rates. Chen said completing this research reinforced his commitment to practicing compassionate, empathetic care for all patients, regardless of socioeconomic status or background.
“It’s important for health care professionals to develop empathy for all people, especially those who are often forgotten, like incarcerated people,” Chen said. “We think of empathy as a skill you practice over the course of years so that eventually, you don’t need to think about practicing it; it’s the first thing that comes to mind. These are people, and they deserve rights. We should all focus on minimizing the disparities that these populations face.”
Padro added, “Going into the field of pharmacy, now I’m more aware of what’s facing populations like minorities and incarcerated people, and I will consider them when I’m actually practicing.”
Sept. 18, 2024
Pharmacy and Population Health poster session
View a gallery of images from student presentations at the Gainesville, Orlando, and Jacksonville campuses.
