Does rural and urban community pharmacy practice differ? A narrative systematic review.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Rural Health
• Community Pharmacy Services

Background:

• Frequent anecdotal comparisons exist between rural and urban community pharmacy practice.
• International evidence comparing services in these settings is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review published international evidence comparing community pharmacy services in rural versus urban settings.
• To examine the nature of services provided, excluding dispensing and counselling.

Main Methods:

• A narrative systematic review was conducted.
• A comprehensive literature search across four databases identified 17 eligible publications.
• Inclusion criteria focused on practice comparisons, excluding dispensing and counselling.

Main Results:

• Limited evidence suggests rural pharmacists may provide more professional services and have better prescriber relationships.
• Rural customers showed willingness to seek advice and engage in longer pharmacist consultations.
• Authors questioned results due to confounding factors and basic statistical analyses.

Conclusions:

• Some evidence indicates rural pharmacists are more willing to adopt new roles and offer higher service levels.
• Findings are based on limited studies with small sample sizes and simplistic analyses.
• High-quality research is necessary to confirm and characterize differences in rural versus urban community pharmacy practice.