Bridging health disparities: a national survey of ambulatory care pharmacists in underserved areas

Background: There is a shortage of primary care medical providers, particularly in rural communities and communities of racial and ethnic minority groups. Clinical pharmacists can help fill gaps in care among these vulnerable populations. Objective: To identify characteristics of ambulatory care pharmacists that pursue and maintain employment within underserved areas. Methods: An original survey was distributed nationwide to ambulatory care clinical pharmacists in underserved settings. Respondent characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 111 completed surveys, a majority of respondents were White, non-Hispanic, female, with English as their only spoken language. A majority of pharmacists completed a clinical experience or specialized training focused on underserved care prior to their position. The top three motivators for pharmacists accepting their clinical position as well as staying at their job were passion for caring for underserved populations, the presence of a faculty appointment, or the freedom and flexibility of advanced clinical roles. Conclusions: With a large majority of our respondents identifying as White and unilingual, there remains a large opportunity to increase diversity in the clinical pharmacy ambulatory care workforce caring for underserved populations. There is an observed correlation between early experiential or specialized training in underserved care and pharmacists pursuing employment in these areas. Thus, one potential long-term strategy to diversify and grow the ambulatory care clinical pharmacist workforce in underserved settings is for clinical practice sites to partner with colleges of pharmacy to recruit and maintain quality individuals who can meet the needs of diverse patient populations as well as expand student and resident training opportunities in underserved settings.