title: Effectiveness of a community pharmacist intervention in diabetes care: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is little evidence from well-designed randomized controlled trials of the impact of community pharmacist intervention on the clinical management of patients with type 2 diabetes. It is also not known how sustainable any observed effects on glycaemic control are, over time. This study was initiated to address both these issues.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 6-month, randomized, controlled parallel-group trial in 66 community pharmacies was conducted in Belgium. Patients were randomly assigned to receive usual pharmacist care (n = 135) or a predefined pharmacist intervention (n = 153). The intervention mainly focused on correct medication use, medication adherence and healthy lifestyle promotion. Primary outcome was glycaemic control, as measured by fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c. Sustainability of changes in glycaemic control was assessed by additional glucose measurements 18 months after the end of the study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The intervention significantly reduced HbA1c (between-group difference: 0·5%, P = 0.009). The largest impact on HbA1c was observed when pharmacotherapy changes (i.e., type and/or dose of hypoglycaemic agents) initiated by the physician were sustained with pharmaceutical care: HbA1c was reduced by 1·05% in the intervention group, whose medication was changed, compared with a reduction of 0·02% in the therapy-modification only, group. It was also found that the diabetes education program resulted in improved self-management and better knowledge of diabetes. Eighteen months after the end of the formal study period, the mean HbA1c of the intervention group did not differ significantly from the control group (7·4% vs. 7·2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides new evidence, from a randomized controlled trial, of the beneficial effect of community pharmacist intervention in the clinical management of type 2 diabetic patients. However, questions remain about the sustainability of the observed improvements.
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Care Unit, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. els.mehuys@ugent.be
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mehuys
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Bortel
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Bolle
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Van Tongelen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Annemans
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Remon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium; D001786:Blood Glucose; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010594:Pharmacies; D010595:Pharmacists; D012648:Self Care; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents