Partnership with clinical pharmacists: Optimizing the quality of diabetes care in an underserved population

The 2015 American Diabetes Association Standards of Care suggest a collaborative, integrated, team based approach to providing diabetes care. This poster presents the results of a program in which patients with a diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and uncontrolled disease (A1C>8%) are provided with a referral to a clinical pharmacist for an appointment-based visit focused on DM. During each pharmacist visit, patients receive individualized education focused on treatment goals, blood glucose monitoring, medications, nutrition, and physical activity that they can implement to improve overall glycemic control. Pharmacists also complete a thorough review of the patient chart to ensure that all American Diabetes Association Standards of Care measures are up to date for each patient. Pharmacists operate under a collaborative practice agreement for the management of DM, which allows them to initiate, adjust, and discontinue medications as appropriate. A clinic note summarizing the pharmacist visit and recommendations is posted in the electronic health record and routed to the patient's primary care provider to encourage communication among the interdisciplinary care team. The primary outcomes of interest are the improvement seen in glycemic control as well as the number of patients with interventions made by clinical pharmacists to ensure the highest quality of care as measured by meeting all DM Standards of Care for our diabetic population.