This week, our celebration of Pride Month features a message from alumna Mary Sauer. Mary’s story of her practice demonstrates the ways pharmacists can meet the unique needs of patients and have a tremendous impact on their lives. Many thanks to Mary for sharing her story and for the work she is doing in our community.
I graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and completed a postgraduate pharmacy residency program through the University of Minnesota and Park Nicollet-Health Partners. I currently practice Medication Therapy Management (MTM) at North Memorial Health in a family medicine clinic located in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Dr. Erik Haugland and I created North Memorial Health’s Gender Care Program within a family medicine clinic. We believe good gender care can be done in a family medicine clinic with providers who understand transgender individuals, know national protocols and how to help guide individuals through the transitioning process at whatever stage they might be. We encourage our patients to come to our clinic presenting as their authentic selves whenever it is possible and safe to do so. We also document our visits with preferred pronouns and names.
Our practice is unique to the United States in that it is co-run between providers and a clinical pharmacist specializing in MTM. With my collaborative practice agreement, I can initiate, modify, and monitor hormonal therapies. Initial visits with me consist of a risk versus benefit discussion of the hormones and our gender consent form. We discuss realistic expectations and monitoring of the medicine, duration of the medicine, and what form of estrogen or testosterone would be best for the individual. I review each medication a person may be taking whether it is a prescription, over the counter or supplement, for a medical indication, effectiveness, safety, and convenience. If an injectable medicine is used, I provide education for injection administration. Our practice also uses puberty blockers to support gender-diverse children and adolescents.
We understand each patient is unique and at different stages in their journey. We take pride in the work we do, and we work hard each day to make sure our clinic is a welcoming place for all our patients.
Mary Sauer, PharmD, BCACP, AE-C, CDCES, (PharmD ‘12)