Women Pharmacists Day: Recognizing the Role of Women in Improving Patient Care Access

In an interview with Pharmacy Times®, Jolynn Sessions, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, clinical pharmacist and president of the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), shared her own experience working in pharmacy and the importance of recognizing women in the pharmacy profession.

Pharmacy Times: Can you introduce yourself and discuss how you got into the pharmacy profession?

Jolynn Sessions, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA: Hello, my name is Jolynn Sessions, and I am an oncology clinical pharmacist by training. I'm currently the president of HOPA, and I've loved oncology since the very beginning.

I admittedly got into pharmacy because my older sister was a pharmacist, and she made it look good and fun and like a very good and meaningful career. And so, I followed her footsteps. Very early on, I was able to do some internship opportunities at Moffitt Cancer Center, and it was there that I realized that pharmacy, and oncology pharmacy specifically, was my love, and that's what I wanted to dedicate my career towards doing.

Pharmacy Times: Throughout your career, how have you seen the profession change, and specifically change for women in the field?

Sessions: Throughout my career, there have been many, many changes. Even as old as I am, and as early back as the late 90s or mid 90s, clinical careers or direct patient care was something that was definitely encouraged at that point. At the college that I went to, I have seen that continue to expand, both for men and women, and I definitely have seen expansions, particularly in management and leadership positions for women. As we know, pharmacy in most states and in most colleges is probably about 70:30 [ratio] or so, and I think we're starting to normalize that in our management positions, but we still have a ways to go in management, as well as more research specific professions within pharmacy.

Pharmacy Times: What is your perspective on where we may be lacking in terms of gender equality in the pharmacy profession, and where have we made significant strides?

Sessions: I think one place where we still have a lot of work to do as a community, as a nation, is to continue shoring up opportunities for childcare. Whether you agree with this or not, I think women generally feel as though they need to be the primary parent as far as taking care of children and ensuring their safety and well-being. Clearly that that that has continued to evolve and improve over time, but to fully allow women specifically to take on leadership roles, more intensive roles within pharmacy, it will be crucial to ensure that we have childcare throughout the nation. And not just in places where there are big tertiary care hospitals and larger centers, but in the more rural places as well; because, in my career, and as well as individuals I know within pharmacy, women have stepped back to do childcare duties because of lack of viable and available childcare in their areas.

When I first started having children, I was in Atlanta, and I worked at Emory. And we had amazing, tremendous health care there within Atlanta and within probably larger cities. But when we chose to move to western North Carolina, those childcare options were not as available, and it was very challenging to find that balance between ensuring that our kids were cared for adequately and working. So, I know that that's something that women in general struggle with. But even in healthcare, and my husband is amazing and is very supportive, and many husbands and spouses are and that's fantastic, but I think we still have a lot of forward motion that we need to make within our country. We think about equality as far as health care is concerned, and I think it's important to think about equality as it relates to workers and enabling people to work at their highest potential, as it has to do with their career and balancing career and family.

Pharmacy Times: How has the value of the pharmacist changed within health care over the years, and how would you like to see that value better recognized?

Sessions: I think over the decades, the value of pharmacists and pharmacists on healthcare has expanded significantly. Again, that tends to be in pockets where we see that more in academic teaching centers, where it's very clear what a pharmacist does, the services that they can provide across the scope of health care, from dispensing, order review, and all the way to direct patient care.

I think we've got some opportunities in private practices and out in smaller communities. We know that we're doing that. We know that as pharmacists, we are vital parts of patient care but ensuring that we have the financial backing to be able to do that and be able to bill for our cognitive services, or be recognized financially for our cognitive services, will continue to be an issue for pharmacists to face that. Hopefully we can, we can figure that out within the next few years or so.

Pharmacy Times: Any final thoughts on the importance of Women Pharmacist Day?

Sessions: I do I think Women Pharmacists Day is fantastic. Again, it recognizes probably the majority of pharmacists in the United States. I like that. It empowers us to do great things for our patients, but also think that it's important to continue keeping our patients at the center of what we do and why we do it.

Thank you again for the opportunity to talk today about pharmacists and women pharmacists. It's a pleasure to be here and to represent HOPA, the Hematology Oncology
Pharmacist Association. Again, we're blessed with lots of proud women pharmacists, as well as male pharmacists, within our profession, where we desire to have a pharmacist be a part of every individual with cancer's care journey over the continuum.