Multimedia Library | Advocacy | Culture | Practice
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- From Counter to Community: Advancing Shared Decision-Making, Culture, and Trust in Community Pharmacy
- Transforming Community Pharmacy Culture: An Academic–Practice Pipeline Partnership [Category Winner]
- NEOMED/CPESN Ohio Student Fellowship
- Country Roads and Urban Streets: Developing a Service-learning Elective Focused on Social Drivers of Health
- Rewriting the Script: Educating Toward a New Community Pharmacy Culture
Culture – Building Strong Pipelines, Mentorship, and Public Awareness
Projects in the Culture category looked at the future of community pharmacy: who enters it, who guides them, and how the public sees it. Teams created new ways to connect students with practicing pharmacists and to show the value community pharmacy brings to patients and neighborhoods.
From Counter to Community: Advancing Shared Decision-Making, Culture, and Trust in Community Pharmacy
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences | Faculty Lead: Hillary Matson
Narrative Description:
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS), Kinney Drugs, and New Visions (academic program for high school seniors) have partnered to create one unified program to increase awareness of community pharmacists and strengthen the pipeline for the pharmacy career. This project evaluates the feasibility and impact of brief, structured pharmacist-led shared decision-making conversations and community outreach activities designed to improve public understanding of the pharmacist’s role, increase patient confidence in immunization decisions, and enhance student learning related to culturally responsive care.
A need was identified to strengthen the pipeline of developing strong and qualified candidates from high school learners to engaged community pharmacists. We identified the New Visions Program for partnership as the student participants have a strong interest in healthcare professions. Our program was designed to illustrate to these high-school learners the skills and qualities that a successful Kinney Drugs pharmacist possesses and the role those pharmacists play in the healthcare field. Our initial educational outreach activity illustrates this through the lens of a current need: clear and confident immunization recommendations.
This program brings together the College of Pharmacy, a chain of drug stores that is known for it’s community-oriented healthcare approach, and a high school senior program for individuals interested in healthcare careers. The faculty and trainees create educational pharmacy-related activities for the high-school students. Our focus for the initial educational program is centered on immunizations and the pharmacist’s role in shared clinical decision-making. The activity is designed to be engaging and hands-on, including an immunization-focused escape the room game, highlighting an important clinical role that community pharmacists play daily. This program’s first educational event will take place in April 2026. Students will complete pre- and post-surveys to assess their awareness of responsibilities and capabilities of the community pharmacist.
Due to the nature of the New Visions Program, full implementation of this program will be implemented for the 2026-2027 academic year, with anticipated multiple educational activities throughout the year engaging two separate New Visions programs. After the first year, we anticipate evaluating to begin scaling this program throughout the Kinney Drugs market and expanding it’s impact into practice and advocacy. The program and materials will be developed and packaged, and Kinney Drugs pharmacies can use them to engage with their local high schools.
As our initial outreach focuses on immunizations, the next steps include increasing pharmacist confidence in shared clinical decision-making by strengthening a pharmacist resource tool utilized by Kinney Drugs. This tool would make it easier to identify candidates for certain vaccines and to highlight individualized screening questions and talking points. This implementation would boost pharmacist confidence in this decision making, streamline resources and efforts, provide an important service to the community, and improve community perception of pharmacists.
Outcomes & Impact:
While most of this project is in its infancy, we anticipate our work will highlight the importance of showcasing pharmacists and the impact of our community pharmacies in our neighborhoods. This will help to generate interest in pharmacy as a career and highlight community-oriented and forward-thinking healthcare employers like Kinney Drugs. Students survey results will indicate what their initial perception is of the duties of a pharmacist and how that perception has changed after the educational activities. The survey will also determine if students have ever considered pharmacy as a career for themselves and if this might change after learning more about what a pharmacist can do.
Community pharmacy is transforming, and with that comes a transformation of workflow and responsibilities for which we must provide the right tools for success. Through collaborative approaches like this, we can strengthen the understanding of the community pharmacist’s role in the healthcare team, sparking interest in joining the pharmacy team and demonstrating to the public how pharmacists promote better health. As we implement changes to the shared clinical decision-making tool, we would also monitor feedback through very short surveys of both the pharmacist and patient. Outcomes would be measured on the confidence of recommendations, usefulness of the tool, and ease of implementation into the workflow.
Beyond these outcomes, this program is designed to empower the pharmacist to play a vital role in their community outside the walls of the pharmacy by engaging with the local high-school community.
Sustainability & Replicability:
This project is ongoing and we anticipate it to be a long-term project. The faculty and trainees will continue to develop relevant individual units or offerings which can then be disseminated by individual pharmacy teams. Continued collaboration will be required to determine the needs of each partner, and how our offerings can meet those needs. While we have partnered with healthcare-focused high-school senior groups for this initially, the program outreach events could take place in any high-school or undergrad setting. This can help to initiate interest in pharmacy as a career right in the very communities that might be in need of pharmacists to care for the community.
This program could be easily adopted by other institutions and community pharmacies. Maintenance of the program will include continually maintaining relevant and accurate information in the program materials and incorporating new considerations as they come. For example, we chose immunizations and clinical decision-making as the topic of our first offering due to current immunization concerns and trends across the country. As community pharmacy continues to transform and advocacy expands practice, we will certainly find new areas of importance to address.
The shared clinical decision-making tool will need routine supervision to reflect current information as research and recommendations change over time. While this will need to be monitored, it is sustainable with the identification of a responsible team member who will make changes as necessary.
Impact Statement:
This program addresses two critical and interconnected needs in the future of community pharmacy: strengthening the workforce pipeline and reinforcing the pharmacist’s role as an accessible, trusted healthcare provider. By engaging high school students already interested in healthcare through structured, hands-on outreach, this initiative creates early meaningful exposure to the evolving scope of community pharmacy practice. It moves beyond traditional career awareness by immersing students in realistic, patient-centered activities such as immunization decision-making and communication. This allows them to see pharmacists in more modern roles that may lack public awareness. Through this, the program has the potential to reshape perceptions of the profession at a formative stage, ultimately developing a more informed, motivated, and practice-ready future workforce.
Also significant is the next phase of the program focusing on enhancing pharmacist confidence and effectiveness in shared clinical decision-making, particularly in the context of immunizations. As community pharmacy continues to expand its clinical services, the ability of pharmacists to confidently engage patients in individualized care discussions is essential. By pairing student outreach with the development of practical tools and workflow for pharmacists, this initiative bridges education and practice, ensuring that transformations in pharmacist roles are both understood by the public and implemented in real-world settings. This impact on future and current pharmacists positions the program as a forward-thinking model for advancing community-based care.
Looking forward, the scalability and sustainability of this program position it as a model for broader impact across community pharmacy practice. Its ability to be adapted by other pharmacy organizations and educational institutions allows for widespread dissemination, amplifying its influence on both workforce development and patient care. By embedding community engagement into routine pharmacy practice and aligning outreach with evolving healthcare needs, this initiative supports the long-term advancement of the profession, ensuring that community pharmacy remains innovative, relevant, and deeply integrated within the communities it serves.
Transforming Community Pharmacy Culture: An Academic–Practice Pipeline Partnership
Belmont University School of Pharmacy | Faculty Lead: Traci Poole
Narrative Description:
Problem Statement:
Belmont University School of Pharmacy (BUSOP) identified both a workforce gap and a culture gap related to community pharmacy. Nationally, community pharmacy faces ongoing challenges in recruitment, retention, and professional identity formation. Within BUSOP, there has also been a longstanding perception among some students and faculty that community practice is not prioritized to the same extent as other pathways and may be viewed as a “lesser” setting that does not require strong clinical skills, leadership, or meaningful advocacy engagement. These perceptions matter because they shape student career exploration early, reinforce misconceptions about the complexity of community practice, and weaken the pipeline into one of pharmacy’s most visible and patient-centered settings. Early survey findings reinforced this need: many first-year students were undecided about career direction, and common concerns about community pharmacy included burnout, workload, understaffing, and limited clinical scope. Together, these factors highlighted the need for an intentional, longitudinal effort to reposition community pharmacy as a clinically rigorous, leadership-driven, and advocacy-centered career path.
Description of the New Collaboration:
To address this gap, BUSOP partnered with Walgreens through the national Community Practice Shared Faculty Program. This collaboration moved beyond a traditional adjunct model by embedding an actively practicing Walgreens pharmacy leader on campus one day each week while they continued serving in community practice leadership. This structure brought current practice realities directly into the academic environment and created repeated opportunities for students to engage with a pharmacist who models patient care, operational decision making, mentorship, workforce development, and advocacy. BUSOP faculty leads guided curricular integration, the shared faculty member served as educator and mentor, Walgreens leadership supported recruitment and career pathway development, and trainees engaged as learners, advocates, and future professionals. The partnership was especially meaningful because the shared faculty member is also a BUSOP alumna, reinforcing community pharmacy as a credible and impactful leadership pathway.
Project Implementation:
The initiative was implemented across the curriculum using an “early and often” approach. In the P1 year, students engaged in real-world community pharmacy cases and completed an interest survey that identified perceptions and mentorship opportunities. In the P2 year, students participated in Pharmacy Day on the Hill, where they observed how advocacy affects access, reimbursement, and scope of practice. In the P3 year, students applied clinical reasoning through MTM workflow examples, de-identified case simulations, and the “Community Pharmacy Connection” series focused on drug-related problem solving and documentation. In the P4 year, students completed integrated academic-practice APPE experiences connecting leadership, teaching, and workforce exposure, including direct meetings with community pharmacy leadership. Early outcomes included strong student engagement, follow-up mentorship, requests for employment information, and internship placement. By aligning curricular exposure, authentic practice engagement, advocacy, and recruitment, this initiative addressed a cultural perception problem within the school while building a measurable and sustainable pipeline for future community pharmacy leaders.
Outcomes & Impact:
The BUSOP–Walgreens Community Practice Shared Faculty initiative has already produced meaningful early outcomes in student engagement, workforce development, advocacy exposure, and culture change, even as the work continues. Program-level results show measurable impact. Among 53 first-year student pharmacists who completed the Community Pharmacy Interest Survey, 74% reported feeling confident or very confident in their ability to succeed in a community pharmacy role, 32% reported being interested or very interested in a community pharmacy career, and 71% of students not currently working in community pharmacy said they were open to or definitely interested in a community pharmacy job opportunity. Twenty students voluntarily requested follow-up information about internships or employment, and 3 have already been hired into Walgreens’ annual internship program. These findings suggest the initiative is beginning to convert early exposure into active workforce pipeline engagement.
Trainees benefited through stronger professional identity formation, clinical skill development, and authentic mentorship. First-year students gained early career exposure and individualized follow-up. Third-year students strengthened clinical reasoning through medication therapy management workflow examples, comprehensive medication review activities, de-identified DUR simulations, and documentation exercises that connected classroom learning to real-world community pharmacy practice. APPE trainees from Belmont and Lipscomb Universities participated in integrated academic–practice experiences that demonstrated how patient care, leadership, teaching, and workforce development intersect in community settings. Students also received practice-relevant feedback from a full-time community pharmacist who served as a judge in the local APhA-ASP Patient Counseling Competition.
The initiative also had a strong impact on advocacy engagement and leadership development. Fifty-four second-year students, along with 9 additional student pharmacists, participated in Tennessee Pharmacists Association Pharmacy Day on the Hill, contributing to the largest single institution turnout in association history. Students engaged directly with legislators, observed how policy affects patient access, reimbursement, and scope of practice, and witnessed Senate committee passage of SB 2040 related to PBM reform. This experience helped trainees see advocacy as a core professional responsibility and community pharmacists as active leaders in practice advancement.
The partnership has also benefited Walgreens and the broader profession by creating a more intentional, trackable recruitment pipeline while challenging the perception that community pharmacy is less clinical or less impactful than other settings. Survey findings showed that student perceptions are influenced most strongly by direct experience and conversations with practicing pharmacists, validating the shared faculty model as a high-leverage strategy for culture change. More broadly, this initiative strengthens the profession by elevating community pharmacy as a setting that requires clinical judgment, leadership, documentation, advocacy, and patient-centered care. Ongoing tracking of perceptions, mentorship engagement, advocacy participation, and employment placement will continue to measure long-term impact.
Sustainability & Replicability:
This project is ongoing and was intentionally designed for sustainability beyond the challenge period. The BUSOP–Walgreens Community Practice Shared Faculty initiative is embedded across the professional curriculum rather than limited to a one-time activity. Its continuation is supported by institutional commitment from Belmont University School of Pharmacy and ongoing partner support from Walgreens through the national Community Practice Shared Faculty Program. Because the model integrates teaching, mentorship, advocacy, experiential education, and workforce development into existing academic structures, it can be maintained without standing alone as a separate initiative. BUSOP faculty leads provide curricular alignment and continuity, while Walgreens supports practice leadership, recruitment, and ongoing engagement from an actively practicing community pharmacy leader. Longitudinal tracking of student perceptions, mentorship engagement, advocacy participation, and employment placement will help sustain the work by demonstrating value and guiding refinement over time.
The model is also highly replicable. Another institution could adopt this approach by establishing a structured partnership with a community pharmacy employer or practice leader and embedding that individual into the academic environment on a recurring basis. The most important lesson is that sustainability comes not from isolated guest lectures, but from repeated, intentional involvement across the curriculum. At BUSOP, this was achieved through an “early and often” framework: early exposure and perception assessment in the P1 year, advocacy engagement in the P2 year, clinical application in the P3 year, and integrated leadership and workforce development in the P4 year. Other schools could adapt these touchpoints to fit their own curricular design, local partners, and workforce needs while preserving the same core elements of authenticity, visibility, mentorship, and longitudinal engagement.
Several lessons emerged from implementation. First, direct engagement with a practicing pharmacist is more influential than classroom content alone in shaping student perceptions of community pharmacy. Second, schools must intentionally frame community pharmacy as a setting that requires clinical judgment, leadership, documentation, and advocacy if they want to challenge the perception that it is a “lesser” practice setting. Third, early identification of interested students is most effective when paired with follow-up mentorship and real employment opportunities. Finally, meaningful culture change requires visible alignment between faculty and practice partners. By integrating community pharmacy into core teaching, advocacy, and career development rather than treating it as separate from clinical training, this initiative created a sustainable model for perception change and workforce pipeline development. These features make the project maintainable at BUSOP and adaptable for other institutions seeking to strengthen community pharmacy culture and recruitment.
Impact Statement:
This project matters because it addresses a major threat to the future of community pharmacy: the gap between what community pharmacy truly requires and how it is often perceived by students and faculty. At Belmont University School of Pharmacy, the BUSOP–Walgreens Community Practice Shared Faculty initiative was created to challenge the belief that community practice is a lesser setting and instead show that it requires strong clinical judgment, leadership, operational decision-making, patient communication, and advocacy. By embedding an actively practicing community pharmacy leader into the academic environment, the project provides students with repeated, authentic exposure to the realities and opportunities of modern community practice. This helps reshape professional identity early and strengthens the workforce pipeline.
The project also matters because it offers a sustainable model for how schools and employers can work together to support the profession. Rather than relying on isolated exposure, BUSOP built a longitudinal approach that connects classroom learning, mentorship, advocacy, experiential education, and recruitment across all four professional years. Early outcomes already show increased student engagement, requests for internship and job information, and stronger understanding of community pharmacy’s clinical and professional scope. At a time when workforce sustainability and access to pharmacist-led care are critical concerns, this initiative helps ensure that community pharmacy is actively cultivated as a rigorous, patient centered, and leadership-driven career path for the next generation.
Media Links and Supporting Documents:
Please visit link for more details: Transforming Community Pharmacy Culture- Unite_for_Impact_Challenge__Detailed_Description
NEOMED/CPESN Ohio Student Fellowship
Northeast Ohio Medical University, CPESN Ohio| Faculty Lead: Jaclyn Boyle
Narrative Description:
This year-long student fellowship experience provided the framework for a learner to engage in project-based work associated with community pharmacy excellence. This fellowship includes activities associated with:
- CPESN program development including resources for participating pharmacies to engage in patient care services
- CPESN participating pharmacy outreach conducted by NEOMED/CPESN Ohio student fellow
- Association and key stakeholder involvement/engagement (association and payor conferences/engagement)
- NEOMED/CPESN fellow collaborated with other CPESN Ohio APPE learners and NEOMED faculty to:
- Identify Ohio counties lacking participating pharmacies
- Complete participating pharmacy outreach
Outcomes & Impact:
Program Outcomes:
Current fellowship project hours:
- Participating pharmacy outreach: 10 hours
- Updating lists of participating pharmacies and identifying potential opportunities: 7 hours
- Creating clinical resources to share with participating pharmacies: 5 hours
- Writing and reviewing clinical protocols: 3.5 hours
Trainee Impact:
- Experience in the development of clinical protocols
- Increased knowledge of healthcare gaps that can be filled by community pharmacies related to both Fee-for-Service and Value-Based Care
- Ability to network with pharmacists within the organization
- 4 APPE students completed a learning experience with the CPESN Ohio network in academic year 2025-2026; 8 APPE students plan to complete learning experiences in academic year 2026-2027
- 1 APPE student secured NEOMED/CPESN Ohio fellowship for academic year 2025-2026; 1-2 APPE students planned to start in NEOMED/CPESN Ohio fellowship for academic year 2026-2027
Community Impact:
- NEOMED impact includes updates to medical billing curriculum, revision of Community Pharmacy Elective course to be offered in collaboration with all 7 colleges in Ohio, and development of Community-Based Care curriculum concentration
- CPESN Ohio impact included new resource documents created to support payor opportunities, updated databases and files that support CPESN Network operations.
Sustainability & Replicability:
We currently have 1 APPE student and 1-2 Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Pharmacy students that plan to start with the NEOMED/CPESN Ohio fellowship for the academic year 2026-2027. Many other students have shown interest in participating in the collaboration and those partnerships are currently in progress. We anticipate that interest in participating in the fellowship will continue through the upcoming academic years.
As the healthcare abilities of community pharmacies continue to grow and develop, we expect the need for education on medical billing and clinical services to increase as well. The initiative plans to continue working with APPE students and provide fellowship opportunities to educate the students that will be soon stepping into these practice settings.
With CPESN activity currently in 47 states, other institutions could easily partner with their local college of pharmacy to engage students in this initiative.
Impact Statement:
This project demonstrates how student involvement has a compound effect on advancing cultural impact within academic institutions and across the CPESN Ohio network. By providing a unique, project-based internship that can be integrated throughout a student’s learning experience in their APPE year, longitudinal experiences such as a student fellowship model can provide a myriad of opportunities for learners to gain both practical and leadership skills while also being connected to stakeholders across the state in efforts to support community pharmacy practice transformation.
Media Links and Supporting Documents:
Please visit links for more details:
- Unite for Impact Challenge – NEOMED/CPESN Ohio Student Fellowship
- College of Pharmacy Launches partnership to improve quality of care
- The Pulse Media Link: First fellow selected in NEOMED partnership with statewide pharmacy network
Country Roads and Urban Streets: Developing a Service-learning Elective Focused on Social Drivers of Health
The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy| Faculty Lead: Jennifer Seifert
Narrative Description:
Adequate preparation of students for post-graduation career opportunities in gap areas is vital for a changing workforce. Preparing pharmacists to support underserved communities and meet patient healthcare needs involves exposure to rural and urban populations and their social drivers of health. This project intends to develop and implement immersive domestic service-learning trips in rural and urban underserved communities with the goal to increase student participation in experiential learning and future practice in these communities. The inaugural trip in October 2025 focused on rural health in Appalachian Ohio, and plans are underway for a 2026 urban trip. Community impact underpins the initiative and includes engaging with community- based pharmacist practitioners in these underserved areas.
A two credit-hour, elective course including a service-learning experience was developed for second and third year PharmD students. Fifteen students enrolled in the 7-week course culminating with on-site service and career exploration activities during The Ohio State University’s Autumn Break, October 16-18, 2025.
Learning objectives for the elective course were: 1. Demonstrate an understanding of Appalachian history, culture, and current events, 2. Recognize health disparities and the impact on healthcare access and health outcomes in Appalachia, 3. Use problem solving and critical thinking skills, and an innovative mindset, to address challenges and promote positive change, and 4. Exhibit attitudes and behaviors to build and maintain trust with traveling class cohort, other healthcare professionals, and community members.
The course was developed by four faculty members. The rural faculty member who lives and practices in Southeast Ohio was able to leverage her community connections and experiences to develop trip activities and experiences.
Pre-trip coursework involved interactive activities about Appalachian history, culture, healthcare resources, and pharmacy practice in Southeast Ohio. Coursework was aimed at orienting students to health care challenges unique to rural areas and engaging students in learning about cultural, socioeconomic, and geographic factors affecting health care outcomes in Appalachia. Students engaged in a case-based simulation developed for Ohio Medicaid practitioners on diabetes in Appalachia, heard stories from local pharmacists and discussed historical events that shape healthcare such as the Athens Insane Asylum, coal mining and the Dupont Scandal. Student teams performed a community needs assessment and developed outreach and engagement events in collaboration with a community partner-mentor affiliated with the local library system.
A key goal of the course was to highlight the positives of rural communities while showcasing realistic and unique challenges. Research from the Appalachian Regional Commission identified how Appalachian communities thrive despite existing challenging social drivers of health. Students developed skills in working with impoverished communities utilizing “Bridges out of Poverty: Strategies for Professional and Communities” with focused application of concepts including hidden rules among classes, creating relationships, and improving interagency collaboration.
Lastly, students developed community engagement activities at four distinct local libraries. After completing community needs assessments, students worked with the local librarian to develop activities and education that supported the community. Outreach events included vaccine education, cold and cough and self-care education, blood pressure and blood sugar testing, and harm/risk reduction education.
Outcomes & Impact:
In October 2025, the inaugural rural trip was held in the Athens, Ohio area, including 15 students, 4 faculty members, and 2 academic affairs staff members. The group took two passenger vans to Appalachian Ohio and stayed at a state park lodge in the area. The group left on a Thursday morning and returned on Saturday afternoon.
During the service-learning trip, students were hands-on in community pharmacy settings. They supported a non-profit community pharmacy, Rising Suns, which serves uninsured and underinsured people living throughout the region. The pharmacy has provided over $8 million in medication at no charge to patients and has served over 1,000 patients since opening in 2021. Their staff, both volunteer and paid, link patients to area resources such as food, utility, and housing assistance. Students volunteered at the pharmacy to help sort donated medications and prepare the pharmacy to move to a larger location.
Shadowing experiences included a local, independent community pharmacy, Shrivers Pharmacy and Wellness, where students learned about the innovative clinical services at the site and supported an employer-based flu vaccine clinic. A vital community partner is the Unite for Impact ACT team member, who is the director of clinical services for this small chain of community pharmacies. Students administered 26 vaccines with Shriver’s Pharmacy. Shadow experiences were also offered for Appalachian Behavioral Health and OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital for students to see work life in a rural community, to learn how community and inpatient pharmacists often work together in underserved areas, and to explore what a career path could look like.
Student-led community outreach initiatives at four Athens County Public Libraries allowed students to engage with 40 people in the community and distribute around 200 care packages. The group also experienced the local history by touring The Ridges, previously known as the Athens Lunatic Asylum, where the group discussed the treatment of mental health patients through the years.
Faculty assessed achievement of course objectives through reflections and surveys of students conducted at the conclusion of the trip evaluating students' confidence, knowledge, and appreciation of rural pharmacy practice. Student survey results demonstrated knowledge in the following (mean sore out of 5): Appalachian history (4.58), Appalachian culture (4.58), Barriers to healthcare in Southeast Ohio (4.92), Healthcare outcomes in Southeast Ohio (4.83), and Roles for pharmacists in rural communities (4.83). The assessment also included student confidence in topics including researching community needs (4.33) and collaborating with local partners (4.75). Students ultimately reported new interest in practicing in a rural setting and in engaging in experiential rotations in these areas. They identified the rural pharmacist as often having clinical, administrative, and advocacy roles connecting patients to resources.
Student quote, “ After this experience I learned that I am interested in rural populations and how medicine differs there. I am starting to consider rural APPE rotations that I would have not considered doing if I had not been part of this experience.” -RAPS AU25 Student Participant
Sustainability & Replicability:
The college of pharmacy strategic plan for 2025-2029 includes the aim to formalize training for pharmacy students to meet the needs of urban and rural communities. The college received support from the McKesson Foundation for several initiatives including the service-learning project in rural and urban areas, and the college has dedicated faculty and community partners to develop and continue these experiences for students.
The college invited leadership from community pharmacies to engage in the ACT collaboration and attend the ACT Institute in the fall of 2025 where Unite for Impact was announced. The team for this project includes the director of clinical services for a small chain pharmacy in rural Ohio. The college also has a faculty member who precepts and practices in rural Ohio, so this project including the elective and the service-learning trip were well supported. Another driver of sustainability is an emerging concentration being developed by the college in urban and rural health. It has been helpful to gain excitement around the Academia and Community Transformation national initiatives with our community-based pharmacy partners.
The Unite for Impact submission team would recommend that colleges of pharmacy wishing to replicate this type of project take the following into consideration. It was very much worth the time and energy on many levels. The student growth and learning are demonstrated through the project outcomes and can be seen in the video and poster submissions. The student bonding and their look at life outside their realm of understanding was also valuable as reported in their reflections.
This group has a faculty member practicing in rural Ohio and was able to tap into her resources and connections. It is possible to design a service-learning trip without a faculty member practicing in the area if the COP leans on its IPPE and APPE preceptors and alumni in a given area. It is important to have local contacts to connect to practices, libraries or community groups, and to tell the story of the local community. Librarians and community members who the group enlisted to talk to the students were key to student understanding of cultural norms and expectations for in-person interactions. In addition to libraries others could consider partnering with a local community center or church.
It is impactful to students to see pharmacy as one profession in underserved areas where community pharmacists, inpatient pharmacists, and pharmacists working in unique practices (like a non-profit community pharmacy) interact for the betterment of their communities, and how being advocates and connectors to resources is central to their professional work. Including a breadth of practice experiences with the central theme of how these pharmacists work together and complement one another would be a valuable consideration when planning this type of immersive learning experience.
Impact Statement:
Training the next generation of pharmacists to practice in urban and rural settings, engage with the community in impactful ways, and ultimately increase the number of pharmacists in areas with healthcare provider shortages is vitally important. This project through The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy in partnership with the McKesson Foundation has developed the framework to educate and inspire students through service learning. In partnership with local community pharmacists and community members in a rural Appalachian setting, students learned and served over their fall break of 2025.
Students engaged in a 7-week elective course to prepare for the trip and learn about the Appalachian area culture, health outcomes, and social drivers of health. They performed a needs analysis for the community to develop outreach events to serve the community. While immersed in Appalachia Ohio, they shadowed pharmacists practicing in the area, talked with patients, and learned how to engage with the community through partnerships with local libraries. Their community outreach included a vaccine education event, cold and cough and self-care education event, blood pressure and blood glucose testing event, and harm/risk reduction education event.
Students ultimately reported new interest in practicing in a rural setting and in engaging in experiential rotations in these areas. They identified the rural pharmacist as often having clinical, administrative, and advocacy roles connecting patients to resources. The College, faculty, local pharmacists, and community partners will continue this service learning each year, alternating between rural and urban settings.
Media Links and Supporting Documents:
Please visit links for more details:
- Country Roads to Care- A Journey to Rural Ohio_Pharmacists_Assoc_Poster_PDF_UFI_JcFY
- Selected Quotes from Student Reflection – Autumn 2025
- Pathways and Recruitment Opportunities for Pharmacy Exploration and Learning (PROPEL)
- Service-Learning in Rural Appalachia (Video)
Rewriting the Script: Educating Toward a New Community Pharmacy Culture
University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy| Faculty Lead: Scott Sexton
Narrative Description:
Problem Statement:
Often, the misconceptions surrounding community-based pharmacy stem from a lack of knowledge on the topic and education is key to dispelling those myths. The University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy (UNC ESOP) partnered with internal and external partners to develop new initiatives to promote community pharmacy as a dynamic and rewarding career path. Education is aimed at various groups across the school, with intention to be thorough and interact with all in the institution to tackle misconceptions about community pharmacy practice at their roots.
Project Objectives:
The objective of this project was to provide education across the institution to promote community pharmacy.
Description of New Initiative:
Educational interventions occur in several ways. Students are introduced to community topics intentionally and early in the curriculum through skills labs and guest speakers in required courses. Secondly, an extracurricular group, the Community Pharmacy Focus Group, was implemented for students to learn and discuss community pharmacy outside of the classroom. Appendix 1 provides description of the various education interventions.
Within the Curriculum:
Partner Pharmacist Presentations
Interaction with practicing community pharmacists is key to understanding community practice. An alumnus of the school and local pharmacist was invited into the classroom to discuss leadership as an independent community pharmacy owner. This lecture discussed how failures became the foundation for resilience and success as a pharmacy owner, emphasizing that these lessons are critical in community pharmacy. They emphasized that as the most accessible healthcare providers, it is key to listen intently to patients and team members to make timely, impactful decisions, while staying true to oneself and individual values. This lecture encouraged students to lead with passion, step outside of their comfort zone, and embrace failure, with stories based in community pharmacy.
Skills Laboratory Cases:
The pharmacy curriculum at the UNC ESOP includes two skills laboratory courses within the first and second years. Students are divided into small groups, each led by a Teaching Assistant (TA), often a pharmacy resident. Activities vary each week in close alignment with the Pharmacotherapy and Pharmacology courses. Each week, lab assignments include activities such as, verbal assessments, application exercises, calculations and drug knowledge reviews, and hands-on learning. The activity introductions include objectives and notes for the TAs with concepts to keep in mind while leading students in discussion.
To positively impact community pharmacy culture in the classroom, course directors have developed an activity to intentionally include an element outlining how the learning activity applies to community pharmacy. Students can then utilize these skills on their experiential rotations. Activities will include an introduction labeled, “Community Connection”. This draws the TA’s attention to discuss with students the connection between classroom learning and care for patients in community practice.
Extracurricular:
Community Pharmacy Focus Group:
The Community Pharmacy Focus Group was launched fall 2025 to provide a safe place to learn about community pharmacy. Through these sessions, students were invited to come. learn, network, and engage in discussion about community pharmacy. For many of these sessions, students were able to interact with external guests, including community-based residents, practicing pharmacists from various community settings, and leaders in the profession.
Outcomes & Impact:
Within the Curriculum
Partner Pharmacist Presentations:
Through the incorporation of partner pharmacists into a classroom session, approximately 150 students second year pharmacy students were able to learn directly from a successful, practicing community pharmacist. Students learned about key leadership skills, the current challenges in community pharmacy, and how to overcome those barriers in practice. Faculty outside of the community setting shared their positive reactions to the presentation and emphasized the important message provided. This effort also strengthened the partnership between the school and practicing pharmacists.
Skills Laboratory Cases:
Each “Community Connection” will highlight three items: 1) Accessible Patient Education, 2) Medication Management and Follow-Up, and 3) Preventative Care Integration. This provides the TA key points to share with students and stimulate open dialogue. This “Community Connection” activity series will be piloted in second-year skills laboratory in Fall 2026. Appendix 2 is the TA instruction for this “Community Connection” case.
By incorporating “Community Connection” cases into the core curriculum in the skills laboratory courses, students and resident TAs will be exposed to real-life community pharmacy cases. Approximately 150 students will be educated about community pharmacy through this required course, as well as their hospital-based resident TAs. After the pilot, additional cases may be incorporated into the first- and second-year laboratory sequences.
Extracurricular
Community Pharmacy Focus Group
With the implementation of the Community Pharmacy Focus Group, two in-person sessions occurred in the fall and three in-person sessions in the spring. Session topics included themes such as, crushing misconceptions about community pharmacy, “Aha Moments” for community pharmacists, and tales from leaders within the community pharmacy space. Based upon student feedback and requests, two virtual sessions were added in the spring: one on community pharmacy case studies and another on pathways to community-based pharmacy residency.
Students participating in the Community Pharmacy Focus Group expressed their satisfaction with the program, as well as their thanks to the faculty that developed the program. Many students shared the impact that the Focus Group has had on their view of community pharmacy and many expressed that this reaffirmed or began their interest for the practice setting.
At the conclusion of each Community Pharmacy Focus Group session, students had the opportunity to complete a short feedback form. Questions assessed their biggest takeaways from the session, what questions they still had, and what topics they would like in future sessions. These responses shaped future Focus Group meetings, directly contributing to topics for future sessions. Additional virtual meetings were even added based on some of the students’ requests. Overall, there are 62 students registered to be a part of the group, representing all class years. For the November meeting, 30 feedback responses were received, followed by 17 and 10 responses for the January and February meetings, respectively. Of note, due to institutional immersion rotation structure, half of the second-year class was off campus during the months of January and February, contributing to decreased numbers of attendees. Appendix 3 provides a video highlighting the student impact of these initiatives.
Impact Statement:
This project highlights the importance of education and the spreading of knowledge. Often, misconceptions about community-based pharmacy practice are linked back to a missing piece of information. By providing education both inside and outside of the classroom, students were exposed to stories of practicing pharmacists, insights into the daily life in community practice, and had myths and misconceptions broken down. Success with simple educational interventions with students encourages the ongoing education for other groups across the school.
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