As a highly accessible healthcare professional, pharmacists are uniquely positioned to recognize signs of distress or abuse in patients. A recently published article helps guide pharmacists on how to help these patients.
“How to Identify and Address Intimate Partner Violence as a Community Healthcare Worker” was published by the University of Toronto chapter of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (UTIHI) in May 2024 and authored by U of T pharmacy students Hila Akbari, Belinda Xu and Sarah Iskin.
Hila Akbari
Lead author Akbari, currently in her third year of a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at U of T’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, decided to write the article after discovering “a significant gap in our education. There are no lectures or seminars addressing how to handle situations involving intimate partner violence,” she says.
Although written with all community healthcare workers in mind, “I ensured the article is especially applicable to community pharmacy practice,” adds Akbari.
The article reviews the signs and symptoms of intimate partner violence and includes a step-by-step guide to initiate conversations with those who may in such a situation. It walks through eight motivational interviewing strategies shown to be effective, such as how to establish trust, ask open-ended questions, show empathy and identify small, achievable steps to increase the person’s well-being and safety.
The article also lists resources to share with patients as well as additional training opportunities for healthcare providers.
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