Pharmacist interventions in immigrant and refugee populations: A scoping review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Social Determinants of Health

Background:

• Global migration necessitates addressing health challenges faced by immigrant and refugee populations.
• Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) significantly impact the well-being of these groups.
• Pharmacists are strategically positioned to reduce health disparities in immigrant and refugee communities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review identifying pharmacist-led interventions for immigrants and refugees in the United States.
• To map identified interventions to the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive search was conducted across five electronic databases.
• 2,603 studies were screened, with ten selected for inclusion after de-duplication and independent review.
• Selected articles were analyzed and categorized according to the SDOH framework.

Main Results:

• The review included two randomized controlled trials and eight observational studies.
• Interventions focused on 'Education Access and Quality' (n=4) and 'Healthcare Access and Quality' (n=6).
• Pharmacist interventions addressed medication understanding, hepatitis B education, lifestyle management, medication-therapy management (MTM), chronic disease management, LTBI, diabetes, and health screenings.

Conclusions:

• Ten pharmacist interventions effectively addressed healthcare barriers for immigrant and refugee populations within the identified SDOH domains.
• Pharmacists play a key role in improving 'Education Access and Quality' and 'Healthcare Access and Quality'.
• Further opportunities exist for pharmacists to address other SDOH impacting these populations.