Continuous Glucose Monitoring as Educational Tool
Research Note
Design and development of a continuous glucose monitoring educational module for students and practicing pharmacistsAbstract
Introduction
This study aimed to investigate a 2-week, hands-on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) module on third-year pharmacy students' and practicing pharmacists' knowledge and confidence.
Methods
This was a prospective, single-center study. Week 1 included a CGM lecture and sensor placement. Participants then wore a CGM device for 1 week. Week 2 included reviewing CGM reports and patient cases, examining participants' reports, and discussing experiences. Pre-, immediate post-, and long-term post-surveys were administered to assess CGM-related knowledge, confidence, and clinical use. Immediate and long-term change in knowledge and confidence were assessed using repeated measures analysis of variance.
Results
Pre- and immediate post-surveys were completed by 36 students and five pharmacists. Student CGM knowledge improved significantly. Students reported improved confidence for all CGM-specific tasks. Results from the pharmacist participants showed similar trends. Student confidence was maintained long-term, while knowledge trended downward. All participants stated they would recommend the activity.
Conclusions
Students and pharmacists demonstrated improved knowledge and confidence following this 2-week, hands-on CGM module. A hands-on CGM pedagogy is effective at increasing knowledge and confidence regarding this technology.
Introduction
Diabetes is a major public health problem affecting more than 10% of the United States population.1 Diabetes can lead to significant microvascular and macrovascular complications2 and high health care costs.3 Thus, it is imperative that health care education provides learners with up-to-date information on this disease. While self-monitoring of blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin have long been standards for assessing glycemic control and making therapeutic interventions, recent advances in technology have made continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) more accurate, accessible, and convenient than ever.4 , 5
A growing body of literature demonstrates that CGM can improve diabetes-related outcomes and decrease medication adverse effects.6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Pharmacists are the medication experts of the health care team and thus should be able to provide excellent patient education and medication interventions related to CGM devices. While numerous studies have shown that pharmacists can improve diabetes outcomes in the patient care setting,13, 14, 15, 16 literature specific to pharmacist-provided CGM services is limited to only four publications.17, 18, 19, 20 This discrepancy could be related to suboptimal pharmacist education regarding CGM devices, and many pharmacy schools may lack instruction on this novel technology. To the authors' knowledge, no studies describing the incorporation of CGM technology into pharmacy curricula have been published. Furthermore, while recorded webinars for CGM-specific professional education are available through organizations such as the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists and American Pharmacists Association, there are no known hands-on training modules currently available for students or clinicians. To the authors' knowledge, there are no previous studies that directly compare hands-on training to online training for diabetes education. However, there are numerous studies that have demonstrated the benefit of hands-on training, such as a 3- or 7-day diabetes simulations.21 , 22 Based on the benefit of these similar activities, it is hypothesized that a hands-on CGM activity would be a beneficial pedagogy.
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a 2-week, hands-on CGM module on CGM-related knowledge and confidence among third-year pharmacy students and practicing pharmacists. The primary objective was to investigate whether this classroom activity improved knowledge and confidence levels immediately following the educational intervention. Secondary objectives were to assess long-term knowledge retention and confidence one year following the intervention, analyze changes in participants' anticipated use of CGM in clinical practice, describe perceived benefit of the educational intervention, and investigate the relationship between knowledge, confidence, and baseline characteristics.
Section snippets
Educational design
This was a prospective, single-center, interventional, pre−/post-survey-based study with repeated measurements over multiple time periods. This study was approved by the High Point University (HPU) Institutional Review Board. Table 1 provides an overview of the study design. At the HPU Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy (SOP), third-year pharmacy students enrolled in a diabetes elective course in spring 2019 and invited practicing pharmacists completed a two week, hands-on CGM module overseen by
Results
Of 37 third-year pharmacy students enrolled in the diabetes elective course, 36 completed pre- and immediate post-surveys (response rate 97.3%). Of those, 23 completed the long-term post-survey (response rate 62.2%). In general, demographic characteristics between those who completed the pre- and immediate post-surveys were similar to those who completed all three surveys; therefore, the reported demographic characteristics represent the 36 students who completed pre- and immediate post-
Discussion
This is the first study to evaluate the effectiveness of a hands-on CGM pedagogy within pharmacy education. This 2-week, hands-on CGM module was associated with immediate increases in knowledge and confidence as well as sustained increases in confidence for third-year pharmacy students. Findings of immediate improvement in knowledge and confidence were consistent with other studies assessing hands-on diabetes learning for pharmacy students, though no studies were specific to CGM.26 , 27 One study
Conclusions
Students and pharmacists valued this 2-week, hands-on CGM module and demonstrated improvements in knowledge and confidence. Findings of low baseline knowledge and confidence validate the need for CGM within pharmacy curricula and CE. This educational module could be implemented on a larger scale for learners ranging from students to experienced practitioners and could be expanded to other health professions outside of pharmacy. To facilitate implementation of this pedagogy with a wider
Disclosures
This work was supported by the High Point University's Growth Mindset Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant Program.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
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Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877129721003452
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