Filling gaps in reproductive healthcare: Women's interest in pharmacist-delivered services in areas with limited obstetric access in Georgia.

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacies are widely distributed and often located in areas with limited obstetric access, positioning pharmacists to help expand reproductive health services, including pregnancy prevention, preconception, and maternal care. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate women's perceived access to obstetric care and their interest in receiving pharmacist-delivered reproductive health services within community pharmacies across Georgia. METHODS: In this cross-sectional survey, women aged 18 to 45 years were recruited at community pharmacies purposively sampled within 90 minutes of four college of pharmacy campuses to include counties with both adequate and inadequate obstetric services. A 9-page REDCap instrument assessed demographics, reproductive history, health risk factors, and interest in services from the NASPA Maternal Health Service Set. Counties were classified by obstetric service adequacy and stratified by NCHS urbanicity code. Data were collected February through May 2022. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used. RESULTS: Of 103 respondents, 79 were analyzed. Although 82% resided in metropolitan counties, 37% lived in counties with inadequate obstetric services; 52% of those with inadequate access were metropolitan residents, whereas all 14 non-metropolitan participants had inadequate access. Sixty-eight percent agreed that access to women's health care is a serious problem in their community. Overall, 89% expressed interest in at least one pharmacist-delivered service. Interest was not uniform: 7 of 22 services drew interest from 70% or more of participants, led by medication review in pregnancy (77%), hypertension screening and counseling (76%), vaccinations (75%), nausea medication recommendations in pregnancy (75%), and contraception prescribing (70%). Interest was lowest for alcohol (33%) and tobacco (38%) screening. No significant differences were observed between groups stratified by obstetric access. CONCLUSION: Women in Georgia with limited obstetric access, both in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, reported modifiable risk factors and interest in pharmacist-delivered reproductive health services, supporting community pharmacies as a pragmatic setting for expanding access.