Pioneers in pharmacy point of care published in national academic journal

Pioneers in pharmacy point of care published in national academic journal

Lipscomb pharmacy faculty and resident provide best practice advice for pharmacists in Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

By Janel Shoun-Smith | 615-966-7078 | 06/03/2026

Through Lipscomb's community pharmacy residency in West Tennessee, Dr. Justin Kirby, associate professor, and the College of Pharmacy's community residents are helping to usher in new healthcare opportunities for pharmacists' patients in Tennessee.

A state law passed in 2024 now allows Tennessee pharmacists to conduct point-of-care testing for maladies that can be diagnosed with a lab test onsite at the pharmacy itself. This allows patients to get tested for illnesses such as Covid-19, the flu, strep throat and urinary tract infections and walk out of the pharmacy with a prescription, all in one location.

Through Lipscomb's partnership with Phipps Pharmacies, a small locally owned chain of pharmacies in West Tennessee, Lipscomb community pharmacy resident Dr. Brice Wagner (Pharm.D. '24, MS '24), supervised by Kirby, worked throughout 2025 to set up and implemented standard operating procedures for the Phipps' Huntingdon location to begin offering point-of-care services.

In February, Kirby and Wagner co-authored an article in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (JAPhA) on best practices for implementing "test and treat" services at a community pharmacy. The article provides a blueprint for starting point-of-care services and the results of a survey of patients regarding their perception of the level of care, their satisfaction with the care and willingness to recommend pharmacy point of care to their friends.

"It scored very well, overall," said Kirby. "Patients were happy to have this one-stop shop."

Phipps' owner, Dr. Jay Phipps, was keen to implement the new service, as the West Tennessee rural region has a shortage of urgent care options, said Kirby. Kirby was also keen on the idea as such a project would provide residents a strong opportunity to develop both clinical and business skills, he said.

As Tennessee is one of the first states to adopt the law, scholarly research on how to implement such care is sparse, said Kirby.

"Our journal article will be valuable for pharmacy providers in both Tennessee as pharmacists continue to roll out this service and in other states as their governments begin debating or taking on the point-of-care approach," he said.

Lipscomb's community pharmacy residency program is growing, with plans in the works for Lipscomb to add a second residency position at Gibbs Pharmacy in Lebanon later this year.

In addition, the Lipscomb resident at Phipps this year, Dr. Sankalp Vadlapudi received a grant from the Tennessee Department of Health to create and implement a diabetes self-management education and support program at the pharmacy to help address the growing needs of patients in rural parts of the state.

Vadlapudi's project is similar to a grant-funded project Kirby conducted in 2019 at Perkins Drugs in Gallatin. Insights from that project were later published in JAPhA.