From Smoking Cessation to Diabetes Care: Babul’s Pharmacist-Led Research Shapes Patient Outcomes

Nazia Somani Babul, PharmD, BCACP, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Retzky College of Pharmacy and a clinical pharmacist at UI Health Specialty Care Building Pharmacy, CommunityHealth, West Town, highlights her research journey and its impact on patient care. Her work centers on underserved and low-income populations, particularly patients at CommunityHealth and UI Health, with studies demonstrating improved smoking cessation rates when patients were provided access to nicotine replacement therapy alongside counseling.

In research, Babul often serves as a primary or co-investigator, collaborating with pharmacists, students, and residents to design and implement projects, including current efforts to explore wellness counseling in outpatient settings. Among her recent works, she is especially proud of a publication on optimizing diabetes self-management, which supported pharmacist-led protocols for blood glucose and insulin supply orders and advocated for policy changes to expand pharmacist roles in improving patient access and outcomes.

Pharmacy Times: What brought you to research as a pharmacist, and how has research shaped your work in the field?

Nazia Somani Babul, PharmD, BCACP: As a clinical pharmacist and clinical assistant professor at UIC Retzky College of Pharmacy, conducting impactful and cutting-edge research is part of the university's mission. My role includes implementing and delivering clinical services at a free clinic for underserved patients at CommunityHealth and for low-income patients at an outpatient pharmacy [within] the academic medical center at UI Health. Research supports positive outcomes to improve the health of these patients. One such study was able to show that patients at CommunityHealth [who] were provided access to OTC nicotine replacement therapy through participation in a smoking cessation counseling program had a higher smoking cessation rate compared with those at the clinic who only received counseling from their provider.

Pharmacy Times: Traditionally, what is your role within the research team, and how often are you involved in pharmacist-led research? Where are you most frequently connected through your research?

Babul: My role has included serving as the primary investigator or as a co-investigator within the research team. Collaboration is integral when working on research. The research team I frequently work with includes pharmacist colleagues, pharmacy students, and/or pharmacy residents, who are either directly involved with providing the patient care services or [are] learners...developing skills in research. I have been planning and implementing research projects consistently as part of my position at UIC.

Currently, my colleague and I are working with a pharmacy student to conduct a research project to assess patient outcomes of providing wellness counseling visits to outpatient pharmacy patients. The wellness counseling visits involve patients completing a self-assessment on 8 dimensions of wellness. Through the research, we hope to identify which dimension[s] of wellness patients are most interested in setting goals in to improve so we may provide patient outreach and education focused on this area. Currently, I am most frequently connected to research through my institution.

Pharmacy Times: What is one of your greatest accomplishments as a pharmacy researcher?

Babul: One [of the] greatest accomplishments as a pharmacist researcher includes sharing the results of the research with other pharmacists. It is always a great opportunity to attend a pharmacy conference meeting [and] to be able to share a research poster and discuss the findings with others. It also provides an opportunity to learn from other pharmacists about the clinical services they are providing, through research that they share. This process of sharing and exchanging the data and knowledge gained through research can help pharmacists learn from each other [and] develop and implement patient care services that have been shown to be successful.

Pharmacy Times: What is a recent publication showcasing your research that you are proud of?

Babul: The...article “Optimizing Self-Management for Outpatient Pharmacy Patients With Diabetes” is one that I am proud of. This publication summarizes research on the use of a protocol that allowed outpatient pharmacists at UI Health to enter and modify orders for blood glucose testing and insulin administration supplies. At the institution, pharmacists and providers were comfortable with the utilization of the protocol. Nonaffiliated outpatient pharmacists who were surveyed agreed that this type of protocol would be beneficial at their practice site. Additionally, this publication recommended that amending state practices to support this expansion of services for outpatient pharmacists would be a significant step in ensuring patients with diabetes have timely access to self-management supplies.