ASHP Midyear: Food Insecurity Impacted Hypertension for Patients, Especially in Rural Areas

Jillian Norris, BSPS, pharmacy student at Cedarville University, highlights the important role pharmacists can play in addressing hypertension and food insecurity, particularly in rural communities. Norris emphasize the need for pharmacists to tailor their patient engagement strategies based on their setting. Engaging with the community through local events is also seen as valuable for reaching residents outside the pharmacy. A major focus is the importance of pharmacists educating themselves on nutrition options for low-income patients, who often have limited access to healthy foods like fresh produce. Rather than simply advising against less healthy options like canned goods, she suggest pharmacists should counsel patients on ways to make those foods healthier, such as thoroughly rinsing canned vegetables to reduce sodium. Getting involved with charitable organizations that provide both medications and lifestyle support is also recommended as a way for pharmacists to better serve patients facing food insecurity and other socioeconomic challenges.

Pharmacy Times: What strategies can pharmacists employ to educate and engage rural communities about the importance of hypertension management and healthy lifestyle changes?

Jillian Norris: I think that does depend a lot on the setting that the pharmacist is in. So, for a community pharmacist that might just be having brochures out or having infographic signage up, but for a more clinical pharmacist, they have the opportunity to provide that education themselves in patient appointments and engage with the patient on what they know currently and what they need to know for their health. I think another great option is engaging in community events like local fairs. It's a great way to engage with rural residents outside of the pharmacy setting.

Pharmacy Times: How can pharmacists address the social determinants of health, such as poverty and food insecurity, which may contribute to hypertension in rural communities?

Norris: I think this is such a huge topic that pharmacists should educate themselves more on. I think it's really important for pharmacists to be able to meet patients where they're at when it comes to food. Obviously, there's a place for educating patients on what is the best for their health, but patients who are dealing with poverty or food insecurity have very limited options when it comes to food, often options that are not the most healthy for their hypertension, so canned vegetables, or canned goods, for instance, are extremely high in sodium, which is known to increase blood pressure. But a lot of times, these are staples at food pantries, where these patients might be sourcing their food from. If a patient comes to you and says, "the only vegetables that I have are canned vegetables," instead of saying, "No, you need to do fresh or frozen because that's healthier," counseling them to rinse their canned goods very thoroughly under running water, washes away some excess sodium to make it a healthier option for them. Now that's just one example. I think it's really important for pharmacists to take time to educate themselves on a lot of different lower income nutrition options and getting involved too in charitable organizations or charitable pharmacies is a really great option as well, because those sort of organizations provide medications as well as lifestyle counseling specifically geared towards lower income individuals.

Pharmacy Times: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Norris: I think the only other thing that I would add is just an encouragement for any pharmacists who are working in a rural health care facility to take a little bit of time and see how their facility manages hypertension, how they connect with the community about hypertension, and see what opportunities they have to get involved in patient education and improving patient outcomes.