New student organization: Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi - Student Pharmacist Organization

May 1, 2022

A new organization on campus, APID-SPO has become an important part of the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy community. 

In their first semester they have worked on building a presence within the Coit College of Pharmacy community.

Their goal is to create pharmaceutical cultural awareness surrounding Asian patients and cultures. They strive to educate UA pharmacy students in navigating cultural differences. Often, Asian views of medicine can be negative, however, by establishing skills  and tools to understand these perspectives aids in learning how a pharmacist can better serve their community.

Thus far APID-SPO has met for lunch meetings, gained insight from guest speakers, established connections with Asian alumni, and even attended the Lunar New Years festival together.

Some of the goals of the Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi Student Pharmacist Organization (APID-SPO) include:

  • Enhance cultural awareness and cultural competency regarding the APID community among student pharmacists.
  • Reach out and work with local APID communities to explore, improve understanding, and help resolve the unique challenges, obstacles, and healthcare issues specific to the APID communities, including the use of traditional medicine.
  • To further the profession of pharmacy through the unity and collaboration of many cultures and backgrounds at The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy and service to the community focused on, but not limited to, those of Asian descent.
  • Our goal is to educate our students on cultural awareness and cultural competency especially surrounding the APID community in Arizona
  • We hope to make an impact to our immediate community in the future through philanthropy, community service, advocacy, and representation within our community and in our pharmacy community
  • Why is cultural awareness and competency important?
  • As pharmacy students and pharmacists to be it’s important to understand cultural heritage is an integral and inseparable part of our patient’s identity and can impact their outlook, attitude, and ideas towards treatment
  • Pharmacists play an important role in a patient’s care team, in order to have effective, efficient, and safe health care for patients, cultural competency and awareness can make their treatment much more tolerable. 
  • In a healthcare setting, these cultural skills build communication, rapport, trust, and understanding between the provider and the patient  and conveys empathy and authenticity. Which can result in much less interruptions in therapy, such as non-adherence, drug-drug interactions, negative side effects, and poor transition of care.

What has our organization achieved this semester?

  • Our goal was to host 1 social event, 1 educational event, and 1 fundraising event which we met and exceeded
  • We had a happy hour event to help socialization and networking with alumni
  • We hosted guest speakers from the college of public health, East Asian Studies department, and Middle Eastern Studies
  • We had a successful fundraising event on both the Phoenix and Tucson Ding Tea locations
  • We are also currently working on a health fair poster that’s intended to educate patients on how to overcome those cultural barriers and build a better communication, trust, and rapport with their health care team
  • We made connections with alumni, leaders in pharmacy, undergraduate programs (like APASA and Pre-pharmacy), and various cultural departments within the college and even the students in APAMSA and Midwestern to further our scope
  • We’re hoping to have more vaccine outreach, health screening, and fundraising events to benefit our APIDA communities next semester

Here is the link to the APID-SPO page if you would like more information click here.

Story by: Gracie Lordi