In the United States, over 38 million people of all ages have diabetes and nearly 100 million adults have prediabetes.1 Diabetes represents a significant threat to public health and the societal costs have a rapidly growing impact on the country. With research estimating that 54.9 million Americans will have diabetes by 2030, improvements in prevention efforts and disease management are crucial.2
As the most accessible members of health care teams, community pharmacists play a key role in preventing and managing diabetes in their patients. Research has shown that when pharmacists take a central role in helping to manage diabetes, patients have reduced A1c levels, increased satisfaction, better quality of life, and higher medication adherence.3 Due to their unique skillset, pharmacists will be critical in alleviating the diabetes burden in the coming years.
For World Diabetes Day and Diabetes Awareness Month, Drug Topics sat down with Jennifer Goldman, PharmD, CDCES, BC-ADM, FCCP, professor of pharmacy practice at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, to discuss how pharmacists can help with diabetes prevention and early detection in the community, challenges pharmacists face when counseling patients with diabetes, and strategies to overcome those challenges.
“Pharmacists do play a really critical role in diabetes prevention and early detection by providing community based screenings, educating patients on diabetic risk factors, promoting healthy lifestyle changes and by offering glucose screenings,” Goldman said. “By partnering with local health fairs, pharmacists can identify individuals who are at risk for diabetes and refer them for further testing. If you think about pharmacists, especially in the community, they are often the touchpoint before a patient goes home….Because there is such frequent interactions with pharmacists, they are in a perfect position to have these conversations.”
READ MORE: Diabetes Resource Center
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