Faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Asheville satellite campus presented at the National Rural Health Association annual conference in New Orleans.
Mollie Ashe Scott, Pharm.D.; Rebecca Grandy, Pharm.D.; and Irene Park, Pharm.D., presented together at the conference, held from May 8 to 11.
“Our talk was very well received,” Scott said. “There was not a strong pharmacy presence at that meeting, and so one of our goals was to represent the profession while also sharing our own work at UNC.”
Their presentation, entitled “Team-Based Population Health Management in Rural Communities,” highlighted the professors’ work on osteoporosis, hepatitis C and diabetes. The presentation focused on ways team-based interdisciplinary care can help overcome the challenges of chronic disease management in rural settings, helping improve outcomes for patients.
“Chronic disease management is a time consuming endeavor that is challenging for rural primary care providers to handle alone,” Scott said. “Team-based care improves chronic disease outcomes and access for patients. This session will use three patient populations as examples of interdisciplinary care to improve quality and access in chronic disease management.
Scott, Grandy and Park all practice at the Mountain Area Health Education Clinic, in addition to their work in the School’s Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. Scott is the regional associate dean of the Asheville campus. Grandy and Park are both assistant professors of clinical education.
NRHA is a national nonprofit with over 21,000 members. It provides leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research across different health-care disciplines.