Impact of Social Forces and Environmental Factors on Healthcare and Pharmacy Education: The Report of the 2021-2022 AACP Argus Commission

Abstract

The Argus Commission was charged to critically examine the social forces that will likely have a significant impact on population health in the United States over the next 10-20 years. The confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic and numerous climate-change related disasters had profound and negative consequences for the US in the last several years, including exacerbation of health disparities already evident in populations of color. The Argus Commission advocates for changes in the curricular integration regarding these social forces and their consequences on individual and population health. Further, action by the academy to advocate and work for meaningful change is essential. A number of policy statements, recommendations and suggestions are included in the report.

Pharmacist Preceptor Exposure, Comfort and Awareness of Resources to Address the Social Determinants of Health—A Pilot Study

“…This deserves further study, for in a previous investigation within a community pharmacy chain, newer practitioners reported receiving more training, while preceptors who had been practicing for >5 years reported more comfort in conducting SDOH screenings [ 9 ]. Further investigation is necessary to determine whether reported comfort in this area translates to the effective education of future pharmacists, or corresponds to increased self-efficacy [ 19 , 24 ] or consistent action or appropriate intervention on social needs for patients. Of note, in those who did recall learning about the SDOH, Neighborhood/Built Environment was the least emphasized.…”

“…There is increasing support and opportunity for pharmacists to intervene on the SDOH [ 16 , 17 ] and this requires an awareness of social resources. While there has been discussion about how pharmacy schools can incorporate SDOH in pharmacy curricula [ 8 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], there is little investigation of the previous exposure to and knowledge of SDOH among pharmacist preceptors who graduated before the new standards were introduced. It is unknown whether pharmacist preceptors are comfortable addressing social needs or are aware of social resources which has implications for how effectively they are able to educate our students.…”