Characterizing how community pharmacy teams engage with social drivers of health during routine workflow: A report from the medication safety research network of Indiana (Rx-SafeNet)

Social drivers of health (SDOH) are nonmedical factors that are strong predictors of an individual's health. There are emerging examples regarding how community pharmacy teams engage with patients' SDOH-related needs; however, these examples often require additional services or workflows. There are no studies that investigate how community pharmacy teams currently engage with patients' SDOH-related needs in their routine workflows.

The objective of this study was to characterize how community pharmacy teams engage with SDOH-related needs in their routine workflows.

This study collected cross-sectional, observational data through an electronic card study design. Pharmacists documented SDOH-related encounters via an electronic data collection form designed to take less than 1 min to complete. The data collection form comprised of multiple choice and "select all that apply" questions that characterized pharmacy workflow and the SDOH-related encounter, as well as free-text response questions to describe interventions and referrals completed by the pharmacy team. Community pharmacists were recruited through the Medication Safety Network of Indiana (Rx-SafeNet) and were randomly assigned to a 2-week data collection period during May and June 2025. Only one pharmacist per pharmacy could participate.

Sixteen Indiana pharmacists across different community settings documented a total of 177 SDOH-related encounters. Most (n = 155, 87.6%) SDOH-related encounters occurred during the prescription dispensing process, commonly during prescription pick up, delivery, or counseling steps (n = 72, 46.5%). Most of the encounters included an intervention (n = 134, 75.7%) to address the SDOH-related needs while a referral was less common (n = 23, 13.0%).

Community pharmacists routinely engage with SDOH-related needs within their current workflows, specifically during the prescription dispensing process. Before community pharmacy teams expand their roles in SDOH services, it is important to consider the workflow and capacity of the pharmacy infrastructure.