Community Practice Innovation Center team's manuscript featured in Pharmacy Times

A team from the Community Practice Innovation Center at South Dakota State University has recently published a manuscript detailing the results of a campaign to raise awareness of pharmacist and pharmacy-related services for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Soon after being published, the manuscript was featured in a story in the online publication, Pharmacy Times.

The manuscript, titled “Impact of a Public Health Awareness Campaign on Patients’ Perceptions of Expanded Pharmacy Services in South Dakota Using the Theory of Planned Behavior,” is a result of work completed through a five-year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant funded project. 

Through The 1815 Project, the CPIC team is conducting work in response to the CDC call-to-action to address health disparities among Americans with diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The project is currently in its fifth and final year, and the CPIC team has already begun planning for the next cycle of the project.

The published manuscript reports the results of a campaign to raise awareness of pharmacy services, like medication therapy management. The awareness campaign was conducted between January 2020 and February 2022. In addition to putting out materials like posters, brochures, business cards, and a 30-second commercial that aired on South Dakota television, the team also conducted pre and post-surveys to measure the impact of the campaign.

For the study, the project team utilized a modified version of the theory of planned behavior, which is a theoretical framework that can be used to “predict and describe health behaviors and intentions,” according to the article. 

By assessing four factors, including patient knowledge, attitude, perceived benefits and norms, and perceived control, the project team sought to measure the impact of the campaign by assessing how likely South Dakotans may be to utilize expanded pharmacy services, like medication therapy management.

The results of the study indicated that the campaign had a positive impact on how likely South Dakotans are to utilize pharmacies in rural communities. The results also showed that factors including being female and having a higher education level also indicated greater likelihood of using a pharmacy’s expanded services. 

The manuscript was authored by seven current or past CPIC faculty and students, including Drs. Sharrel Pinto, Christopher Kotschevar, Aaron Hunt, Alex Middendorf, Christopher Robbins, Erin Miller and Deidra Van Gilder.

The manuscript was published in Pharmacy, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes on topics related to pharmacy education and practice. Soon after publication, the manuscript was featured in a news article titled “Improving Management of Chronic Diseases in Rural Areas Begins with Maximizing Community Pharmacy Services” in Pharmacy Times.

Several more manuscripts reporting on work completed through The 1815 Project are currently in-development. The CPIC team will continue to disseminate on work completed through The 1815 Project, as well as the center’s two other major projects, START-SD and BREATHE-SD.

Read the published manuscript

View the article in Pharmacy Times.