Student Identification of Medically Underserved Populations During a First-Year Community Introductory Pharmacy...

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Health Equity
• Social Determinants of Health

Background:

• Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) are crucial for early clinical exposure.
• Understanding medically underserved populations is essential for equitable healthcare delivery.
• Pharmacy students need to recognize and address barriers faced by diverse patient groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate first-year pharmacy students' ability to identify medically underserved populations post-IPPE.
• To analyze student reflections on barriers to care and pharmacist roles in serving these populations.

Main Methods:

• First-year students completed a 40-hour community IPPE.
• Post-experience reflections were analyzed using content analysis.
• Reflections focused on patient populations, care barriers, and pharmacist interventions.

Main Results:

• 72.9% of students accurately identified medically underserved populations.
• Low income, rurality, limited English proficiency, and disabilities were common themes.
• Students identified barriers to care (e.g., socioeconomic status, health literacy) and pharmacist roles (e.g., advocacy, vaccinations).

Conclusions:

• The community IPPE effectively enabled most students to recognize underserved populations.
• Early practice-based exposure facilitates understanding of care barriers and pharmacist's role.
• This experience supports conceptualization and application for future patient care.