Rural Health Professions Program
Early Experience for Pharmacy Students
Program History
The Rural Health Professions Program (RHPP) began in 1997 as a statutorily mandated, interdisciplinary program that provided medical, pharmacy and nurse practitioner students with training experiences in Arizona’s rural communities.
Arizona faces a shortage of pharmacists. According to the 2000 HRSA State Health Workforce Profiles:
- There were 2,130 pharmacists practicing in Arizona in 2000.
- Arizona had 41.2 pharmacists per 100,000 population, which results in a rank of 50th among the 50 states.
However, this shortage is more acutely felt by rural communities who face even greater difficulty in recruiting and retaining pharmacists. In addition to severe workforce shortages, Arizona’s rural populations are generally older and poorer than their urban counterparts and often have limited or are completely lacking insurance coverage. People in Arizona’s rural communities often have high rates of chronic conditions, accompanied by increased prevalence of negative health risk behaviors including smoking, obesity, and lack of physical activity. Rural health care practice demands diverse and specialized skills; Arizona’s rural providers must work with fewer diagnostic and treatment resources than those providers located in urban areas.
More about RHHP
Contact Information
Program Manager
Health Disparities Initiatives and Community Outreach