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Pharmacy
Special Issues
Advances in Rural Pharmacy Practice
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Advances in Rural Pharmacy Practice

A special issue of Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacy Practice and Practice-Based Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2026) | Viewed by 6290

Editors

Prof. Dr. Kimberly McKeirnan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA 99202, USA
Interests: pharmacy education; rural health; pharmacy practice; pharmacy technicians; vaccination services
Prof. Dr. Megan Undeberg

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA 99202, USA
Interests: pharmacy education; rural health; pharmacy practice; pharmacy technicians; vaccination services

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rural pharmacists face numerous challenges, including demanding workloads, difficulties with pharmacy staffing, issues with reimbursement for services, and complications with assisting patients in accessing specialty care. This Special Issue invites authors to submit research articles, reviews, commentaries, and case studies that explore the evolving role of pharmacists in rural patient care. Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

  • Innovative patient care services provided by rural pharmacy personnel in a hospital, community, or ambulatory care setting.
  • Novel approaches and activities in pharmacy education that prepare student pharmacists for rural practice.
  • Implementation of advanced pharmacy technician roles in rural patient care.

Descriptions of advancements in rural community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, ambulatory care, and pharmacy education are welcome. Articles describing rural patient care advancements in any country are encouraged for this Special Issue.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Kimberly McKeirnan
Prof. Dr. Megan Undeberg
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmacy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pharmacy practice research
  • rural patient care
  • pharmacy education
  • advanced roles for pharmacy technicians

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review, Other

14 pages, 229 KB  
Article
Qualitative Analysis of Test-to-Treat Benefits and Barriers for Pharmacists in Rural Washington State
by Bradley Brown, Megan Undeberg, Angela Stewart and Kimberly McKeirnan
Pharmacy 2025, 13(3), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy13030080 - 3 Jun 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2295
Abstract
Background: Rural communities in the United States experience significant barriers in accessing healthcare, including inadequate numbers of providers and local healthcare facilities. These barriers are exacerbated during seasons with high rates of respiratory diseases when rural clinics and providers may be overwhelmed. When [...] Read more.
Background: Rural communities in the United States experience significant barriers in accessing healthcare, including inadequate numbers of providers and local healthcare facilities. These barriers are exacerbated during seasons with high rates of respiratory diseases when rural clinics and providers may be overwhelmed. When mild, many of these respiratory diseases may be managed effectively in alternate settings, including community pharmacies. Investigators interviewed pharmacists in Washington State to explore the capacity of pharmacists and pharmacies to provide test-to-treat services for COVID-19, influenza, and strep throat. Methods: A qualitative study design was used to conduct key informant interviews with pharmacists who precepted student pharmacists from a local university. Twenty interviews were conducted, transcribed, and qualitatively evaluated to identify themes. The 5 A’s of Access were utilized as a theoretical framework. This framework describes five domains of access, including affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability. Results: Qualitative analysis identified several themes that described the benefits of offering test-to-treat services in rural communities, such as reducing geographical barriers to accessing care, reducing wait times for patients, and reducing the number of patients seeking higher levels of care for basic treatments. Barriers to offering test-to-treat services identified by pharmacist participants included difficulties with receiving payment for services, challenges with adequate staffing, and the lack of awareness among many people in rural communities that pharmacies offer test-to-treat services. Conclusions: Rural communities experience challenges with the limited capacity of healthcare providers to meet the needs of patients in their communities. The results of this qualitative analysis may be useful to pharmacists in U.S. states where collaborative drug therapy agreements or collaborative practice agreements allow the provision of test-to-treat services. By providing test-to-treat services, pharmacists can increase access to care for rural patients and alleviate the burden of offering these services from other healthcare providers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rural Pharmacy Practice)

Review

Jump to: Research, Other

16 pages, 290 KB  
Review
Analysis of Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks Governing Community Pharmacy in Bulgaria and North Macedonia
by Anna Todorova, Mariya Ivanova, Magdalena Pesheva, Dijana Miceva and Bistra Angelovska
Pharmacy 2025, 13(4), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy13040108 - 8 Aug 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2725
Abstract
The common border between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, alongside the regulatory requirements stemming from Bulgaria’s membership in the European Union, provide grounds for comparing the legislative environment in both countries. This article presents a comparative case study of the regulatory frameworks governing community [...] Read more.
The common border between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, alongside the regulatory requirements stemming from Bulgaria’s membership in the European Union, provide grounds for comparing the legislative environment in both countries. This article presents a comparative case study of the regulatory frameworks governing community pharmacies in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. The aim of this study is to examine the specific features of current legislation related to the operation of community pharmacies, and to identify similarities, differences, and gaps in the organizational structure of pharmacy services, the population’s access to pharmaceutical care, and the qualification requirements for personnel working in community pharmacies. Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union since 2007, while the Republic of North Macedonia has had official EU candidate status since 2005. This provides a basis for comparing the regulatory frameworks of an EU and a non-EU system within the same regional context. In both countries, the overall pharmacy-to-population ratio exceeds the European average (3.3 pharmacies per 10,000 inhabitants), indicating sufficient availability. However, pharmacies are predominantly concentrated in major urban areas. In Bulgaria, challenges remain in ensuring access to pharmaceutical services in smaller and rural settlements, while in North Macedonia, the provision of such services is better ensured. The findings of this case study may be particularly relevant for countries undergoing health system reforms or EU harmonization processes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rural Pharmacy Practice)

Other

Jump to: Research, Review

19 pages, 566 KB  
Systematic Review
Coordinated Primary-Care Access in Rural and Suburban Alberta, with a Contextual Comparison to Rural Wyoming: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Community Pharmacist–Family Physician Care Models
by Tomasz Karczewski, Jennifer M. L. Stephens, Dawid Karczewski, Sahar Feizizadeh, Dhwani Dixit and Mihaela Olsen
Pharmacy 2026, 14(4), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy14040098 - 2 Jul 2026
Viewed by 554
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Primary-care access in Alberta, Canada, is shaped by geography, attachment, timeliness, continuity, and local service capacity. Rural communities may face travel burden, workforce fragility, and intermittent services, whereas suburban communities may have nearby facilities but still experience delayed access, low attachment, and [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Primary-care access in Alberta, Canada, is shaped by geography, attachment, timeliness, continuity, and local service capacity. Rural communities may face travel burden, workforce fragility, and intermittent services, whereas suburban communities may have nearby facilities but still experience delayed access, low attachment, and fragmented episodic care. Rural Wyoming has some similar geographic and workforce constraints, although the jurisdictions differ in financing, regulation, and pharmacist scope. This systematic review and narrative synthesis examined evidence on coordinated community pharmacist–family physician care in rural and suburban Alberta and considered, separately, the contextual relevance of the findings to rural Wyoming and comparable frontier settings. Methods: We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library using controlled vocabulary and free-text terms to identify English-language peer-reviewed studies and practice-relevant evidence published from 1 January 2010 to 19 April 2026. Two authors screened titles/abstracts and full texts and resolved decisions by consensus. Methodological appraisal used design-appropriate Critical Appraisal Skills Programme criteria, and outcome-level certainty was considered using GRADE domains. Results: Thirty-four eligible peer-reviewed or practice-evaluation records were included in the narrative synthesis, and seven official contextual or methodological sources supported jurisdictional interpretation. Evidence was strongest for hypertension, cardiovascular risk reduction, medication management, and chronic disease monitoring. No included study directly compared the same intervention in Alberta and Wyoming; evidence for emergency-department effects and equivalent effectiveness across settings was limited. Conclusions: Coordinated pharmacist–family physician care may extend access to selected medication-related and chronic disease services when supported by documentation, referral, follow-up, and red-flag protocols. Application to Wyoming should be treated as a context-dependent proposition requiring local adaptation and prospective evaluation, not as demonstrated transferability or a substitute for physician-led longitudinal primary care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rural Pharmacy Practice)
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