Pharmacist role in addressing health disparities—Part 2: Strategies to move toward health equity

Abstract

AbstractHealth disparities or extreme gaps of health across different groups of people result in poor outcomes for many Americans today. Pharmacists have an important role in addressing health disparities across many populations. Contextualizing root causes of gaps in health care and outcomes and identifying potential solutions to address those root causes are important initial steps clinical pharmacists can take to combat health disparities. PubMed and Web of Science were searched to identify articles published from inception until May 9, 2021. Articles in English were screened by title and abstract for relevance to clinical pharmacists' involvement in addressing health disparities. References from identified journal articles were also screened to identify further relevant articles. Utilizing the five domains of social determinants of health (SDOH) (economic stability, neighborhood and built environment, social and community context, education access and quality, and health care access and quality), actionable interventions to pursue health equity are presented. Pharmacists are in a unique position to make positive impacts on health disparities. By remaining intentional about decreasing unconscious biases and seeing past medications to the individual to identify potential barriers, pharmacists can bolster the movement toward health equity.