What kickstarted this process?
CPhA has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusivity, making it a key pillar of our most recent strategic plan. So, while our efforts to overhaul the content in CPS are part of an organization-wide priority, there have been significant efforts in recent years to acknowledge and address the long history of systemic racism and bias in health-care education and publications. As a leading Canadian publisher, we have a responsibility to ensure that the content we produce—content that is used by tens of thousands of health practitioners every day in Canada—is helping to support equitable care and is not contributing to the systemic racism found across our health system.
How was the process undertaken and what kind of issues did you find?
Our approach has focused on a few core elements, including the reference images found in CPS, language and content related to race and ethnicity, and language related to sexual orientation and gender identity.