title: Impact of a diabetes certificate program on PharmD students' knowledge and skills.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the impact of a pregraduation diabetes certificate program on PharmD students' knowledge and skills.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive elective in diabetes was created and implemented in the third-professional year of the PharmD curriculum. A nonrandomized, single-blinded, controlled, 2-year study was conducted to determine the impact of the elective. Written and oral examinations were administered to the participants and students in a control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The certificate students' (N = 25) and control students' (N = 12) average oral examination grades were 88.5% +/- 13.4% and 89.5% +/- 15.8%, respectively (p = 0.58). The certificate students' average grade on the counseling section of the oral examination was 9% higher than that of the students in the control group (p = 0.01). The certificate students' and control students' grades on the written examination were 80.9 +/- 11.1% and 61.1 +/- 17.4% (p = 0.0062), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A diabetes certificate program improved students' knowledge of diabetes disease state management and patient education skills compared to students who did not take the elective.
authors.affiliation: Mercer University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA. ryan_gj@mercer.edu
authors.forename: Gina J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Karla T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Whitney
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Unterwagner
authors.forename: Haomiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002568:Certification / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy*; D004514:Education, Pharmacy, Graduate / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013339:Students, Pharmacy