Quality of Care of a Pharmacist-Managed Diabetes Service Compared to Usual Care in an Indigent Clinic

Abstract

Many key diabetes quality of care outcomes in an indigent population were significantly improved in patients whose diabetes management was facilitated by a clinical pharmacist.

Improvement of diabetes indices of care by a short pharmaceutical care program

“…Similar benefits in blood pressure reduction were recorded in more recent studies investigating the effect of pharmacist managed diabetes care [22-24, 35, 36]. At a pharmacist-managed diabetes clinic the blood pressure control rate yielded an absolute increase of 34% [23]. At other studies, mean reduction in systolic blood pressure was recorded as 2 mmHg [24] and 4 mmHg [22].…”

“…There are studies reporting positive clinical outcomes resulting from pharmacists' interventions and PC in the diabetes population [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]33]. This is the first study on PC in diabetes reported from Turkey.…”

“…At another study [22] conducted at pharmacist managed diabetes care clinics, the main reduction in HbA1c levels was found to be 1.3% after 1 year. Irons et al [23] studied the quality of care of a pharmacist-managed diabetes clinic; and after an average of 1.8 years of follow-up HbA1c reduction was 2.0%. Similar results were observed at larger studies such as the study Diabetes Ten City Challenge [24] where community-based pharmacists provided patient care to 914 patients and at the end of the first year, mean HbA1c decreased by 0.4%.…”

“…These PC programs have been found useful in improving the quality of care of patients with various diseases such as hypertension [12], asthma [13], hyperlipidemia [14] and tuberculosis [15]. Pharmacist interventions in diabetes have also resulted in beneficial outcomes [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

Pharmacist Instruction of Physical Assessment for Pharmacy Students

“…However, as pharmacy services have become more directly related to patient outcomes, pharmacists have become more involved in conducting patient physical assessment. 1,2 Jones defines patient assessment by pharmacists as the process by which information is gathered from the patient and other sources and evaluated in order to make decisions regarding: ''(1) the health status of the patient; (2) drug therapy needs and problems; (3) interventions that will resolve identified drug problems and prevent future problems; and (4) follow-up to ensure that patient outcomes are being met.'' 3 To ensure pharmacy students receive instruction in such skills, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) standards require that curriculums include a patient assessment laboratory addressing physical assessment techniques.…”