Community Pharmacists Guide Patients New to Glucose Monitoring

In an interview with Pharmacy Times for Diabetes Awareness Month, Brooke Hudspeth, PharmD, chief practice officer at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, discussed how community pharmacists can help patients with diabetes get started with blood glucose monitoring and decide when to test.

Hudspeth said community pharmacists are especially well positioned to help because, in many cases, the pharmacy is where patients get their meters and testing supplies in the first place. Pharmacists are trained to teach patients not only how to use a meter correctly but also how to use the information from each test. That includes when to check, individual goals, and, most importantly, what the numbers mean.

As members of the diabetes care team, pharmacists can also identify when glucose readings suggest something needs to change and communicate with other team members about the patient's monitoring plan, medications, or lifestyle changes. The goal, she said, is helping patients understand how to use that number and what to do next.

On timing, Hudspeth said pharmacists want patients to "test with purpose." Rather than collecting numbers they don't understand, each reading should ideally help answer a question about the patient's diabetes management. Because community pharmacists often have longstanding relationships with patients, they typically know their medications, health history, and social factors that affect care. That helps them individualize when a patient should test, what each reading should reveal, and what the patient will do with it.

Pharmacists can also be practical about access to testing supplies, daily schedules, and what is realistic for each patient. The overall goal, Hudspeth said, is a monitoring plan that is both clinically useful and manageable enough that patients will actually follow and use it.