Rural Project Examples Addressing Pharmacy and prescription drugs

Pharmacists for Patient Safety Network
Updated/reviewed September 2022

Need: Pharmacists in rural Nebraska are often isolated and find it difficult to communicate with others about safety concerns.
Intervention: The Pharmacists for Patient Safety Network was a communication network in which pharmacists identified safety concerns and shared solutions.
Results: After one year of implementation, 30 of the 38 participating pharmacies reported that the network encouraged new safety practices and reinforced existing safety strategies.

Project Lazarus
Updated/reviewed November 2021

Need: To reduce overdose-related deaths among prescription opioid users in rural Wilkes County, North Carolina
Intervention: Education and tools are provided for prescribers, patients and community members to lessen drug supply and demand, and to reduce harm in prescription opioid use
Results: Opioid overdose death rates have decreased in Wilkes County

Midcoast Maine Prescription Opioid Reduction Program
Updated/reviewed May 2020

Need: Reduction in the number of emergency department dental patients abusing opioid prescriptions in rural southeastern Maine.
Intervention: Using a one-page opioid prescription guideline, opioid prescribing and emergency room visits for dental pain decreased.
Results: The rate of opioid prescription dropped nearly 20% after implementation, and in comparing the 12-month period before and after implementation, dental pain emergency department visits decreased from 26 to 21 per 1,000.

The Health Wagon
Updated/reviewed January 2021

Need: Healthcare access in Central Appalachia for the medically underserved challenged by social and economic determinants of health, including transportation barriers, food insecurity, poverty, and lack of health insurance.
Intervention: Three mobile clinics and 2 stationary clinics provide free health care for people in 16 counties in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Results: By leveraging technology and meeting patients where they are, Health Wagon provided comprehensive healthcare services — including specialty care — to 5,500 patients during 16,000 visit encounters in 2020.

The Rural Virtual Infusion Program
Updated/reviewed April 2020

Need: Allow rural cancer patients in a region inclusive of 26 counties in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota to have access to tertiary-level chemotherapy regimens in rural infusion centers.
Intervention: With telehealth-based oversight from a tertiary care oncology team, 3 rural infusion teams were trained to coordinate cancer treatment plans and administer complex chemotherapy regimens.
Results: Almost 130 patients were transitioned to receive chemotherapy in a rural infusion center, translating to over 1,000 infusion visits and saving patients/families nearly 65,000 trip miles, 1,800 travel hours and $71,000.

Mobile Health Units for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
Updated/reviewed April 2022

Need: To bring medication-assisted treatment to rural and underserved areas in Colorado.
Intervention: Six mobile health units travel to 32 counties and offer services like telehealth sessions, counseling, naloxone, and referrals to wraparound services.
Results: The units traveled more than 100,000 miles from January 2020 to January 2021.

Queen Anne's County Mobile Integrated Community Health (MICH) Program
Updated/reviewed March 2022

Need: To connect patients to resources in order to reduce use of emergency services, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions.
Intervention: Patients receive support (by in-person visit, phone call, or telehealth visit) from a paramedic, community health nurse, peer recovery specialist, and pharmacist.
Results: Between July 2016 and June 2019, the MICH program enrolled 233 patients and demonstrated a total savings of $3,393,908 in healthcare costs.

Southwest Health System Antibiotic Stewardship Program
Updated/reviewed March 2021

Need: Impact patient care and safety issues related to antibiotic use in southwest Colorado.
Intervention: Pharmacy-led antibiotic stewardship program for inpatient, outpatient, and long-term care settings.
Results: With antibiotic use guidelines, refined infection diagnostics, and first-choice antibiotic selections, all care settings now see decreased days of treatment and decreased resistance patterns.

SLV N.E.E.D.: Naloxone Education Empowerment Distribution Program
Updated/reviewed August 2020

Need: Growing concern in rural Colorado communities regarding prescription and illegal opioid overdoses.
Intervention: Education efforts for health workers and the larger community, in addition to establishing a naloxone overdose reversal drug program.
Results: In addition to continuing to train nearly all first responders to administer naloxone, the organization provides harm reduction education in various community settings.

Ohio Northern University's HealthWise Mobile Outreach Program
Updated/reviewed July 2019

Need: Meeting both advanced practice pharmacy student education needs and patient healthcare needs in a nearby rural/underserved area.
Intervention: With support from multiple organizations, students in the Ohio Northern University's College of Pharmacy program use a motor coach to deliver a wide range of healthcare services during scheduled outreach visits.
Results: In the program's first two years, point-of-care screening, immunizations, and chronic disease prevention and management education have been provided to 800+ Hardin County, Ohio, residents.

Rural Project Examples: Pharmacy and prescription drugs