Banting & Best Diabetes Centre Unveils its Guidebook for Pharmacists on Diabetes Management

Best-practice resource to help diabetes patients reach treatment goals now available

TORONTO, ON, Sept. 16, 2014 /CNW/ - Today, the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre (BBDC), Canada's leading centre of excellence for innovation in diabetes research, education and clinical care, unveils its Guidebook for Pharmacists on Diabetes Management through its Knowledge Translation and Optimizing Care Models Program. The launch signifies a demonstration of ongoing thought leadership and commitment to the diabetes community in supporting optimal medication management. Further, the BBDC is also announcing the launch of the Diabetes Pharmacists Network as a way to bring together pharmacists from across Canada interested in the care of patients with diabetes.

Currently, one in four Canadians lives with diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes, or prediabetes and this number is expected to increase to one in three by 2020 if trends continue.¹ Given the steadily increasing rates, the Guidebook provides pharmacists a comprehensive but easy to use resource for supporting optimal patient education and decisions regarding diabetes. Its contents focuses on three areas of primary importance for effective diabetes management and care; glycemic management, cardiovascular protection and lifestyle modification.

"Pharmacists are highly accessible health care providers who are on the front line, helping patients make decisions every day," says Dr. Lori MacCallum, BScPhm, PharmD, Program Director, Knowledge Translation and Optimizing Care Models, Banting & Best Diabetes Centre and Editor-in-Chief of the Guidebook and Sun Life Financial Professor of Wellness and Diabetes Education. "The goal of the Guidebook is to ensure all pharmacists have access to a comprehensive resource that's focused on treatment goals for people living with diabetes and how to help individuals achieve each goal. It also focuses on effective approaches to support patient education."

People with diabetes see community pharmacists more than any other health care provider.² As such, pharmacists across Canada are in a unique position to ensure that their scientific knowledge, and ability to translate that knowledge into action, helps to improve the lives of those living with diabetes.

Further, and in recognizing the value of pharmacists in improving outcomes for patients while empowering and supporting those who exemplify best practices through networking, education, and knowledge translation initiatives, the Diabetes Pharmacists Network will be open to all licensed pharmacists in Canada interested in diabetes care.

About the Guidebook   

The Guidebook incorporates recommendations from Canadian evidence-based guidelines in diabetes, blood pressure and lipid management and is supplemented with information that pharmacists need to know, including prevention and management of adverse effects, tips for assessment of adherence and medication management. Content was created in collaboration with pharmacists, dietitians and psychologists with input from endocrinologists, cardiologists, internists, exercise physiologists and family doctors. Multiple iterations of the Guidebook have been tested in busy community pharmacies to ensure the information is relevant and helpful.

Approximately 4,500 complementary copies of the Guidebook are being provided to pharmacists across Canada. Print and e-book versions are also available for purchase on the Diabetes Pharmacists Network website at www.diabetespharmacistsnetwork.ca.

About BBDC

The Banting & Best Diabetes Centre (BBDC) was established in 1978 as an Extra-Departmental Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto with the primary objective of advancing diabetes research, education, and patient care.

The mandate of the BBDC's Knowledge Translation and Optimizing Care Models Program is to ensure that scientific knowledge is implemented to improve the lives of people with diabetes. The team's primary focus is to identify the care gaps that could best be addressed by pharmacists and find ways to help pharmacists improve outcomes for people with diabetes.

References

¹ Canadian Diabetes Association. Diabetes: Canada at the Tipping Point, Charting a New Path. http://www.diabetes.ca/CDA/media/documents/publications-and-newsletters/advocacy-reports/canada-at-the-tipping-point-english.pdf. Accessed August 2014.

² Shiu, Jennifer R; Simpson, Scot H; Johnson, Jeffrey A; Tsuyuki, Ross T. Quantifying opportunities to affect diabetes management in the community. Canadian Pharmacists Journal; May/Jun 2006; 139, 3: 37

SOURCE: Banting & Best Diabetes Centre (BBDC)

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