How To Impact Your Patients Lifestyles
in 20 Minutes!
Special Feature by Stephen Freed, RPh, Diabetes Educator, Publisher
Recently, I had
the opportunity to develop and promote a diabetes program for a small
chain of 15 pharmacies in Illinois. The program focused on each patient
receiving 20 minutes of diabetes education by appointment. In addition
each patient learned how to use an alternate site meter, were given
a free A1c test and explained reasons for starting type 2 patients on
insulin
Our marketing effort started 1 month prior to the diabetes days. We
contacted the newspapers and they ran stories on the program, and every
patient in the store that picked up a prescription or strips, etc was
told about the program and just how important it was. A flyer also went
out explaining the program.
The marketing was so successful that the stores booked up every appointment
from 9AM till 7:30PM. Each day we saw at least 30 patients. That totals
over 450 patients for the 15 pharmacies.
Each patient appointment began with an A1c test. While the patient
was waiting for the results, they were given information on alternate
site testing and were able to test their own BG. Once the 8 minute A1c
result was found, we explained what the result meant and how reducing
their A1c could improve their quality of life. During the education
session every patient was given information on the use of insulin in
type 2 patients, with a goal of helping them understand why their doctor
might recommend it.
After each patient completed the appointment, we had them fill out
an anonymous survey.
The results of the survey showed us just how successful the program
was:
1. 87% said the information they received was Extremely
Valuable while the other 13% said the information was valuable
2. 74% said they didn’t know their A1c result
before that day. 100% said they would now request the information from
their doctors.
3. 94% said they didn’t understand what the
A1c represented before that day.
4. 100% said they would make changes to their Diabetes
Management because of information they received that day.
5. 97% said they would increase the number of times
they would check their blood glucose
6. 93% said they would make changes to their physical
activity because of the information they received.
7. 94% said they would make changes to their diet
because of the information they received.
In the coming weeks we will give you the information on how you can
impact your patients in only 20 minutes. We will also provide you the
forms we used for the program.
This Program was supported by an unrestricted grant
from Novo Nordisk and Therasense
Read
Series
