Effect of Pharmacist Led Educational Interventions on Disease Knowledge and Glycaemic Control in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus in a University Hospital

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder that presents high morbidity and mortality with significant reduction in patient’s quality of life. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of pharmacist led educational interventions on disease knowledge and glycaemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus. Methodology: A prospective randomized educational interventional study was carried out in the General Medicine Outpatient department in a South Indian teaching hospital, Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada district for a period of 12 months from October 2014 – September 2015. Results: A total of 106 patients who met the study criteria were enrolled and randomly divided into usual care and intervention groups. Data were collected by using a validated questionnaire developed by the researcher for overall diabetes knowledge to both the groups at the beginning and at the end of the study. The results showed a significant increase in overall diabetes knowledge from 18.05 to 25.43 (p <0.001) in the intervention group as compared to usual care group (19.78 – 18.07, p =0.007). The mean scores of patient’s knowledge about diabetes, self-care practices and knowledge regarding complications of diabetes mellitus with respect to all the domains in the intervention group showed a significant improvement (p<0.05).A significant decrease (p<0.001) in the fasting and post prandial blood glucose levels was observed in the final follow up from the baseline period in the intervention group. Conclusion: The study highlights the positive impact of clinical pharmacist led intervention through education programme on improving disease knowledge and clinical outcomes in patient with diabetes mellitus.