A Surveillance of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists in Rural Appalachia
Location
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Start Date
4-5-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
4-5-2024 11:30 AM
Poster Number
38
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Rick Hess
Faculty Sponsor's Department
Pharmacy Practice
Competition Type
Competitive
Type
Poster Presentation
Presentation Category
Health
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Ambulatory Care Pharmacists are valuable members of a primary care team. Ambulatory care pharmacy is defined by the ACCP/APhA/ASHP Joint Working Group as “integrated, accessible health care services by pharmacists who are accountable for addressing medication needs, developing sustained partnerships with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community.” They help providers care for patients with acute and chronic illness by offering their expert drug knowledge and patient care skills. This study examined the prominence of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists in the rural Appalachia region. We hypothesize less Ambulatory Care Pharmacists practice in this region compared to other areas. This will help further solidify the impact and importance of having pharmacists as members of a patient’s medical team at all levels of care. This is important because results could encourage new Ambulatory Care Pharmacists to move into the rural Appalachian areas of need, thus bettering the health care and accessibility of these patients. Getting the pharmacists into clinics is an integral part of insuring value-based care of patients and leads to the benefit of all parties involved. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) reports that when comparing Appalachian rural counties to others in the US, the population is less diverse, older, and declining faster than others. This study may confirm the gap in access to these pharmacists and where Ambulatory Care Pharmacists could potentially settle to benefit the patients of this region. To conduct this study,1315 zip codes of pharmacists from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network were organized by county and then cross-referenced to the ARC’s list of Appalachian Counties. The counties that qualified as Appalachian were then determined rural or non- rural by the ARC’s Rural- Urban County Types map. The ARC map is categorized into rural, non-metro, small metro, and large metro, with the rural category being home to 2,466,255 people. Lastly, the rural counties that were identified were sorted by the presence of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists. The results of this study are in progress and yet to be determined, but the expected outcomes are that there is a lower number of Ambulatory Care Pharmacist in rural Appalachia compared to more urban areas.
A Surveillance of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists in Rural Appalachia
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Ambulatory Care Pharmacists are valuable members of a primary care team. Ambulatory care pharmacy is defined by the ACCP/APhA/ASHP Joint Working Group as “integrated, accessible health care services by pharmacists who are accountable for addressing medication needs, developing sustained partnerships with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community.” They help providers care for patients with acute and chronic illness by offering their expert drug knowledge and patient care skills. This study examined the prominence of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists in the rural Appalachia region. We hypothesize less Ambulatory Care Pharmacists practice in this region compared to other areas. This will help further solidify the impact and importance of having pharmacists as members of a patient’s medical team at all levels of care. This is important because results could encourage new Ambulatory Care Pharmacists to move into the rural Appalachian areas of need, thus bettering the health care and accessibility of these patients. Getting the pharmacists into clinics is an integral part of insuring value-based care of patients and leads to the benefit of all parties involved. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) reports that when comparing Appalachian rural counties to others in the US, the population is less diverse, older, and declining faster than others. This study may confirm the gap in access to these pharmacists and where Ambulatory Care Pharmacists could potentially settle to benefit the patients of this region. To conduct this study,1315 zip codes of pharmacists from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network were organized by county and then cross-referenced to the ARC’s list of Appalachian Counties. The counties that qualified as Appalachian were then determined rural or non- rural by the ARC’s Rural- Urban County Types map. The ARC map is categorized into rural, non-metro, small metro, and large metro, with the rural category being home to 2,466,255 people. Lastly, the rural counties that were identified were sorted by the presence of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists. The results of this study are in progress and yet to be determined, but the expected outcomes are that there is a lower number of Ambulatory Care Pharmacist in rural Appalachia compared to more urban areas.