(85) Prevalence of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences In Medically Underserved and High Social Vulnerability Areas

Objective : Accreditation Council for Pharmaceutical Education Standards for Doctor of Pharmacy programs require schools to expose students to diverse patient populations. One strategy to provide diverse experiences and better prepare students to embrace health equity is to ensure exposure to patients from medically underserved areas (MUAs) during Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs).

Methods: The authors used geospatial analysis to describe APPE community pharmacy rotation sites utilized by a single institution during the academic year 2021-2022. They determined the proportion of sites that were in Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-designated MUAs. They also identified the proportion of community pharmacy rotation sites in census tracts with moderate to high social vulnerability using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI).

Results: During the study period, 97 unique rotations sites hosted 278 APPE community pharmacy rotations. When evaluated by APPE site, 62% (n=60) were in an HRSA-designated MUA, and 56% (n=54) were in a census tract with moderate to high social vulnerability. When evaluated by APPE rotations, 67% (n=186) were completed in an HRSA-designated MUA, and 53% (n=148) were conducted in an area with moderate to high social vulnerability. During the study period, 81% (n=225) of students had an APPE community pharmacy rotation in either an HRSA-designated MUA or an area with moderate to high social vulnerability, accounting for a total of 54,000 student hours in these communities.

Conclusions: Our findings identified a substantial portion of APPE community pharmacy sites and rotations during 2021-2022 were in MUAs or with high social vulnerability, with considerable student exposure. Future research is needed to examine student experiences at APPE sites in MUA and those in areas with high social vulnerability.