AD-vice: Tailoring Healthcare Innovations in Rural Areas

Curated by: Aanchal Gupta, Program Coordinator, NaRCAD

Tags: ADvice, Rural AD Programs
 
Academic detailing programs face unique challenges in both rural and urban communities. Rural communities often encounter barriers with both clinicians and their patients having limited access to resources, as well as the difficulty they both face in navigating geographic barriers. In the latest edition of the AD-vice blog, we’ll explore past conversations with public health and healthcare professionals working to close the gaps for patients in rural populations.

CAPACITY-BUILDING & RESOURCE SUPPORT

• “We know that many people living with HIV pass through community-based organizations. We want to make sure that those organizations are equipped with the correct information to get people the care they need through resources or referrals. Our team has created detailing materials for both medical professionals and community-based organizations to maximize our impact.” - Lexie Hach, Iowa Department of Public Health

 

• “We expanded our team to include two pharmacists, one nurse, two physicians, two student pharmacists, one student nurse, two medical students, and a biomedical data analysis student. Our team of physicians were able to identify physician champions and convince local medical practitioners that our detailing would be helpful for the medical team.” - Kimberly C. McKeirnan, PharmD, BCACP, Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

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COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT

• “...it is important that collaboration occur at local levels as well as at state levels—both among clinical colleagues in the same community who care for the same patients, and also with support from state-level organizations who can leverage resources that may not be available in the local community.” - Liesa Jenkins, MA, ONE Tennessee

 

• “I try to connect providers with resources like care management teams, electronic referral platforms, or other providers in their area who are implementing particular services like parent-child interaction therapy, medication therapy management, and applied behavioral analysis. If I'm asking a provider to do something, I want to make sure that they have the tools and the bandwidth to carry it out!” - Jacki Travers, Pharmacy Management Consultants (PMC)  

 

• “If you’re just starting out, reach out to community partners and get a sense of what patients with substance use disorder are experiencing and the challenges they’re facing before you start detailing clinicians. You’ll be better able to represent what is happening in the community and share the resources that exist when you’ve done your research first!” - José Peña Bravo, PhD, Florida Department of Health in Duval County

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ADDRESSING STIGMA AND HEALTHCARE ACCESS

• “In a mostly rural state like New Hampshire, healthcare access is limited to begin with, and clinician stigma could drive patients who need help to either forego care or have to travel very far to seek care. We know providers want the best outcomes for their patients, and through detailing, we want to help the providers achieve those outcomes. Looking at potential stigma is one of the keys to making sure we address health inequities.” - Megan DeNubila, State of New Hampshire

 

• “To encourage access, our state has created a TelePrEP program that offers PrEP services to anyone via telemedicine. Consultations take place over the phone, labs are obtained at third party lab companies, and medications are mailed right to the front doors of patients.” - Brandon Mizroch, MD, MBBS, Louisiana Department of Health  

 

• “We provided clinicians with screening tools to help identify patients with mental health conditions and SUD to determine who could benefit from additional services. We even created a local resource guide for clinicians to easily connect patients to community services. The clinicians found that these accessible tools helped them have open conversations with patients.” - Meghan Breckling, PharmD, BCACP, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

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We hope the insights shared in this edition of AD-vice will inspire implementation of strategies on community support, access, and more in your AD programs. Check out our updated Program Planning Hub for examples and guides on how to build and sustain detailing programs as well as resources to support frontline clinicians!
 
​Best,
The NaRCAD Team


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