Using an Advanced Practice Pharmacist in a Team-Based Care Model to Decrease Time to Hemoglobin A1c Goal Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Florida, 2017–2019

Using an Advanced Practice Pharmacist in a Team-Based Care Model to Decrease Time to Hemoglobin A1c Goal Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Florida, 2017–2019

RESEARCH BRIEF — Volume 17 — June 4, 2020

Kevin Cowart, PharmD, MPH1,2; Wendy Updike, PharmD1,3; Nnadozie Emechebe, MPH4; Janice Zgibor, PhD, RPh1,4 (View author affiliations)

Suggested citation for this article: Cowart K, Updike W, Emechebe N, Zgibor J. Using an Advanced Practice Pharmacist in a Team-Based Care Model to Decrease Time to Hemoglobin A1c Goal Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Florida, 2017–2019. Prev Chronic Dis 2020;17:190377. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd17.190377external icon.

PEER REVIEWED

On This Page

• Abstract
• Objective
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgments
• Author Information
• References
• Tables

Summary

What is already known on this topic?

Few studies have evaluated the influence of team-based practice models involving an advanced practice pharmacist (APP) on the time needed to reach a hemoglobin A1c goal. APPs function in a way similar to a mid-level provider, adjusting antidiabetic medications and providing diabetes self-management education under a defined scope of practice.

What is added by this report?

As compared with usual medical care, a team-based practice model using an APP led to a shorter median time to reach a hemoglobin A1c goal of less than 7% in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Team-based care involving an APP might lead to improvements in glycemic control, which have the potential to decrease the burden of diabetes as a chronic disease.

Abstract

Collaborative practice models that use an advanced practice pharmacist (APP) have been shown to improve outcomes for patients with chronic diseases. Few studies have evaluated the effects of team-based practice models involving an APP for time needed to attain glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) goals in patients with diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes). Ours is a retrospective cohort study, involving patients with type 2 diabetes who worked with a pharmacist in an academic family medicine clinic. These patients experienced a shorter time to achieve an HbA1c of less than 7%, as compared with patients who did not work with a pharmacist. Future studies should evaluate the length of time patients can sustain an HbA1c of less than 7% with team-based care involving an APP and the influence of such care on diabetes-related complications.