Pharmacists are becoming more involved in
Diabetes Care. In fact the number of pharmacists who are CDE’s has increased
10-fold in the last 4 years. The AADE has a pharmacy specialty practice group
with over 500 members.
Why is this occurring? It is well known that
pharmacists have the most continuous interaction with diabetes patients. They
are also the medical professionals from which the patient feels the most
comfortable obtaining knowledge.Pharmacists
are also the most knowledgeable on drug therapy for diabetes and how this
interacts with other co-morbidities.
Pharmacists have not been thought of as
candidates for pump training certification or as referral sources for possible
insulin pump candidates.
Program:
We at DIABETES IN CONTROL are working with 2
companies together in a project to increase our readership’s awareness of
the Pharmacist’s value as a member of the diabetes care team.
We have a commitment from Therasense to
supply us with Visor Tracker systems for pharmacists to use. We are
teaming this up with Animas to select pharmacists who meet the criteria
as possible pump trainers.
You will be trained by your local Animas
representative on pump use.
You will then wear the pump with saline
for 7 to 14 days. During this time you will have to monitor and record
glucose, exercise, food intake, etc using the Therasense Tracker unit.
You will set basal rates and make bolus’ in accordance with your actual
reading and an algorithm we will supply you. You will also experience the
hands on techniques of set insertion and problem solving.
We will require feedback from you on the use of
the Tracker and the Pump in order to prepare an article for our readers. We
will want to personally interview many of you.
At the end of the program you will be able to
take the post-test and can be certified as an Animas Pump Trainer. The Visor
Handheld device and Tracker unit will be yours to keep.
We have worked with Animas to determine
areas where pump trainers are needed in order to give you an opportunity to
generate income upon certification as a pump trainer.
