Hands-On CGM Training Helps Student Pharmacists Prepare for Career
Heather Folz, PharmD, BCACP and Christina H. Sherrill, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM, discuss a recent study that examined how wearing a continuous glucose monitor impacts student pharmacists.
Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) have quickly become the standard of care for patients with diabetes since they came onto the market. Approximately 40% to 50% of people with type 1 diabetes use a CGM and recent data has supported their use in patients with type 2 diabetes.1 Research has shown that CGMs lead to significant improvements in glycemic control, including reductions in HbA1c levels, average blood glucose levels, and hypoglycemic events.2
In a recent study published in Patient Education and Counseling, investigators examined how wearing a CGM would impact student pharmacists’ counseling ability, knowledge, confidence, and empathy.3 The study was done throughout the same weeks during CGM laboratory sessions as part of a patient care laboratory course in 2 schools. The students were randomly assigned to wear a CGM device or not to wear one.
Of the 63 students enrolled in the CGM laboratory session across both schools who agreed to take part in the study, those who wore a CGM had a higher average counseling score during the encounter with a patient and a higher overall confidence score. There was also a statistically significant positive correlation between average confidence and average empathy, and empathy and counseling performance.
The authors concluded that wearing “…a CGM device resulted in higher student performance on CGM counseling as well as a larger increase in CGM-related confidence after the intervention. This study supports the use of resources to provide students with this hands-on experience."
Heather Folz, PharmD, BCACP, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Notre Dame of Maryland University and an ambulatory care clinical pharmacist at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, and Christina H. Sherrill, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM, associate professor at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, who were authors on the study, sat down with Drug Topics to discuss the findings from the study, the implications of incorporating hands-on training with technology like CGM devices for future pharmacy practice, and how a hands-on CGM education model could be adapted for practicing pharmacists seeking to enhance their knowledge and skills.
READ MORE: Diabetes Resource Center
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