Telepharmacy project aids North Dakota’s rural communities

Abstract

In 2000, North Dakota found itself in the midst of a pharmacy services crisis. The national pharmacist shortage had hit the mostly rural state particularly hard, said Howard C. Anderson Jr., executive director of the North Dakota Board of Pharmacy. Newly graduated pharmacists were being lured to larger cities in other states where community pharmacy chains were offering big salaries and other incentives, leaving few pharmacists to take the place of those who were retiring in small, rural communities, Anderson lamented. More than 25 rural community pharmacies in the state had recently closed, and 12 more were on the verge of shutting their doors. North Dakota’s rural hospitals, many of which had only one pharmacist or relied on contracted pharmacists who worked part-time at the facilities to keep inpatient pharmacies operating, were also challenged by the pharmacist shortage, Anderson said. After contemplating several options, he said, the board decided to explore telepharmacy as a potential solution to address the predicament.