Neighborhood geographical factors and the presence of advanced community pharmacy practice sites in Greater Chicago.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the availability of experiential learning opportunities in culturally diverse areas and to identify opportunities and barriers to attract and sustain sites for the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy.


METHODS
Utilizing variables of census tract income, racial/ethnicity composition and crime index, data analyses included descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Faculty members involved in experiential education were interviewed to identify other factors influencing site placement and selection for community-based advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).


RESULTS
Median family income and Asian population were significantly higher and black population was significantly lower in census tracts with community APPE sites than in census tracts without APPE sites (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found in the population variables of white and Latino populations and crime index. The Asian population variable was the only significant predictor of an APPE site (p = 0.0148) when controlling for other variables. Distance from the College, pharmacy staffing issues, goodwill, influence of district and corporate managers, and strategic initiatives were critical considerations in site establishment and overall sustainability.


CONCLUSIONS
Advanced community pharmacy practice sites were fairly well distributed across metropolitan Chicago, indicating that exposure to diverse populations during the advanced community practice experiences parallels with strategic College objectives of expanding and diversifying experiential sites to enhance pharmacy students' abilities to meet emerging patient care challenges and opportunities.
Johnson
Charisse L
CL
Chicago State University College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL 60628, USA. c-johnson@csu.edu
Crawford
Stephanie Y
SY
Lin
Swu-Jane
SJ
Salmon
J Warren
JW
Smith
Miriam Mobley
MM
D002641:Chicago; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003625:Data Collection; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005178:Faculty; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D010594:Pharmacies; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000458:organization & administration; D011231:Preceptorship / Q000458:organization & administration; D024382:Professional Role; D013339:Students, Pharmacy