Chase Reece, BSHP '24

Healthcare professional shortages are a major problem for rural areas, especially physician shortages. Physicians are often understaffed and overworked, and this can lead to long wait times for patients. A potentially innovative solution is Collaborative Drug Therapy Management, which is an approach that allows physicians to delegate certain tasks to pharmacists through a collaborative approach in hopes to increase access to medical care. This program requires additional training for pharmacists, but it gives them a greater responsibility and scope of practice by allowing them to adjust dosages and dosage schedules under the direction of a physician. Today, I met with a faculty member within the College of Pharmacy to discuss this project and potential grant initiatives. We discussed the importance of physician and pharmacist opinions and attitudes towards advanced clinical pharmacy practice, in addition to potential barriers for implementing this approach in rural Georgia. During this meeting, I was tasked with helping write a literature review to gain a better understanding of this practice approach and potential gaps in the research that may need to be addressed before proceeding further.