Measuring the impact of a national meeting special session: Change in participant perceptions of rural health pharmacy curricula and effects at home institution

ObjectivesThe primary objective is to describe the impact of an AACP session on participants’ opinions toward rural health pharmacy education. The secondary objective is to determine the session’s impact at participants’ pharmacy institution.MethodsParticipants were surveyed twice, once via paper during the session and then via telephone, four months after the session. Questions were related to respondent perception of rural health needs and the impact of the session on participant home institution.ResultsThe pre- and post-questionnaires had response rates of 66.7% and 68.4%, respectively. No change was seen in respondent opinion for most prompts, but more respondents disagreed at follow-up with a statement that pharmacists in rural and urban areas require the same skills (65.6% pre and 82.1% post, p < 0.05). Over 50% of follow-up respondents reported perceiving a change at their home institution after attending the special session.ConclusionsPharmacy educators interested in rural health share similar opinions regarding rural health pharmacy education and are motivated to initiate change in this area. Attendance at a national meeting may impact attendee home institutions.