LAUSR

Health disparities continue to exist in the United States, with the most significant differences occurring between racial groups. Racial health disparities are largely a result of the strong association between race and structural inequities - the systematic differential in the distribution of power, resources, opportunities, and exposures across racial populations. The use of case-based learning is common practice in pharmacy education, with race often included out of convention. In some cases, race is included to inform treatment based on guidelines developed from epidemiological and clinical studies that link race to disease by conferring biological significance to race categories. This continuing use of race/ethnicity to guide treatment contributes to racial health disparities, and may further perpetuate existing provider implicit bias. This paper discusses the pedagogical approach of using patient cases; convention, propriety, and implications of including race in patient cases; and guides pharmacy educators on how to utilize information on race.