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Rural Community Pharmacies’ Preparedness For And Responses To Covid-19, Delesha M. Carpenter, Tessa Hastings, Salisa Westrick, Meagen Rosenthal

Faculty and Student Publications

Background: Few studies have documented rural community pharmacy disaster preparedness. Objectives: To: (1) describe rural community pharmacies’ preparedness for and responses to COVID-19 and (2) examine whether responses vary by level of pharmacy rurality. Methods: A convenience sample of rural community pharmacists completed an online survey (62% response rate) that assessed: (a) demographic characteristics; (b) COVID-19 information source use; (c) interest in COVID-19 testing; (d) infection control procedures; (e) disaster preparedness training, and (f) medication supply impacts. Descriptive statistics were calculated and differences by pharmacy rurality were explored. Results: Pharmacists used the CDC (87%), state health departments (77%), and state …