Some people think we live in relatively safe times. Those people are naïve.
It is true that you are much less likely to die in a workplace accident, on the road, in a war, or from an infectious disease than in the past. But the foremost threat to safety today is not physical, but cultural.
The Pharmacy Council has risen to the challenge of combatting cultural peril. It has introduced a cultural safety requirement in its professional standards. To remain licenced, pharmacists must demonstrate “progress towards pharmacy practice that is culturally safe”.
Perhaps you think the main safety focus of pharmacists should be to avoid poisoning their customers. But by failing to embed cultural safety in every aspect of their practice, the Council warns, pharmacists become unwitting culprits in perpetuating health inequity.
But what is culturally safe practice? Does it simply mean respectful and courteous interactions with people of all backgrounds – in other words, not being a dick?
If only it were that simple.
In its guide, Towards Culturally Safe Practice, the Council informs pharmacists that it is patients who decide whether an interaction is culturally safe. But, the guide helpfully admonishes, “it is not their responsibility to then teach you.”
Fair enough. When customers fulfil prescriptions at pharmacies, most probably don’t want to get involved in extended conversations about their values and social conventions. But how, then, are pharmacists to develop the knowledge they need to keep customers clear of cultural jeopardy?
The guide is less helpful on that question than it might be. Pharmacists are enjoined to recognise how their own cultural biases and power might put their customers in cultural danger. To do this, they also need to inform themselves about their customers’ cultures.
This is where it gets a little complex. The guide provides a long list of factors that might influence a person’s culture: Age, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, religion and disability.
That list, the guide points out, is not exhaustive. But even considering that many factors presents a dizzying array of potential combinations – and therefore potential cultures – with which a pharmacist might have to contend.
Just to add further complexity, as the guide goes on to say, “not everyone from the same culture will have the same needs and expectations.”
It’s almost as if everyone has their own individual identity. Now there’s an idea.
Dr Michael Johnston is a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. He leads the workstream on education. Prior to his time at the Initiative, Dr Johnston held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington from 2011-2022.
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