title: The impact of diabetes concentration programs on pharmacy graduates' provision of diabetes care services.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine practice outcomes associated with doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) graduates from 2 universities who completed a diabetes-concentration.
  
  
  METHODS
  An online survey instrument was sent to 93 PharmD graduates who completed a concentration in diabetes and 94 control graduates to determine their knowledge of and skills in providing diabetes care and how frequently they provided diabetes care services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-seven graduates (52%) responded. Significantly more graduates with a diabetes concentration rated their ability to instruct patients on insulin administration, blood glucose monitoring, foot care, and insulin dose adjustment as good or excellent compared to a control group of graduates. Graduates with a diabetes concentration also rated their ability to perform blood glucose monitoring and foot examinations higher than graduates without a diabetes concentration (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Completing a diabetes concentration increased graduates' knowledge of diabetes and confidence in their ability to provide care but did not appear to alter their practice patterns significantly. Further study is needed to determine whether other barriers to pharmacists providing diabetes care exist in practice settings.
authors.affiliation: Mercer University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, USA. ryan_gj@mercer.edu
authors.forename: Gina J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Renae
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chesnut
authors.forename: Peggy Soule
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Odegard
authors.forename: Joseph T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Dye
authors.forename: Haomiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: June Felice
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004514:Education, Pharmacy, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D058436:Knowledge Management; D008297:Male; D005791:Patient Care / Q000379:methods; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000592:standards*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital; D011364:Professional Practice