American Pharmacists Association’s new trans-friendly guide urges staff to use ‘chest’ instead of ‘breasts’ and ‘cycle’ rather than ‘period’

Pharmacists should consider ‘breasts’ as ‘breast’ and ‘periods’ as ‘cycles’ to be more inclusive of transgender people, a leading medical body has said.

Pharmacies should also install at least one gender-neutral restroom in each store and consider calling patients using a numbered system instead of using gender-specific titles such as Mr., Mrs. or Ms.

The recommendations are published in a guide from the American Pharmacists Association – which represents 62,000 pharmacists nationwide.

The APhA researchers said the shift is “intended to increase awareness among pharmacy staff and staff” and create “safe spaces” for patients of all genders and sexual orientations.

The American Pharmacists Association has released updated guidelines on how to make pharmacies more accessible to transgender people

From the above, taken from the guidelines, it appears that ‘breast’ should now be called ‘breast’ and ‘menstruation’ should be called ‘cycle’.

But critics have previously raised concerns about the introduction of gender-neutral language in healthcare, saying it makes health communications more confusing.

The new recommendations were published as a preprint in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, ahead of their expected inclusion in next month’s edition.

About 1.6 million Americans identify as transgender, with people in younger generations more likely to fall into this category.

Studies suggest that people in this group are 60 percent less likely to become depressed and have a 73 percent lower risk of suicide.

But despite their increased risk, many avoid pharmacies for fear of mistreatment, embarrassment or discrimination, the researchers said.

The guide also says that pharmacists should use their own pronouns and ensure they use the correct pronouns for patients.

Pharmacists should also wear pronoun pins, they said, to make the environment more welcoming.

“This guide is intended to raise awareness of pharmacy staff and staff about the importance of gender-affirming care,” the document said.

“Our hope is that this serves as a tool to help pharmacy staff feel more confident in building affirming and safe spaces for all patients.”

Pharmacist Monica Douglas, a pharmacist at Touro College of Pharmacy in New York, is listed as the lead author of the commentary.

The above guidelines also encourage staff to wear pins depicting their pronouns and use them in clinics

They are also instructed to install a gender-neutral toilet wherever possible

In 2021, the APhA published a guide on care for transgender patients together with the Human Rights Campaign.

These told pharmacists to make sure they used the correct pronouns with patients and gave them advice on how to deal with ‘misgendering’ someone.

It says that if the wrong gender is used, pharmacists should say: ‘His prescription is – I’m sorry – their prescription is ready.’