Pharmacy Students' Care Improved HBA1c Levels and Quality of Life of Patients with Diabetes

The objective of the current study was to examine the pharmacy student care effect on HbA1c levels and quality of life (QoL) of T2DM patients. For this purpose pharmacy students received an academic course on theoretical and clinical aspects of T2DM management. Students carried out a psycho-educational intervention among T2DM patients. T2DM patients (n=135) participated in two projects. Within each project a random allocation to intervention group (IG) or control group (CG) was conducted. In the first project, HbA1c levels were taken from patients' medical files before the intervention commenced (t1), after half a year (t2) and after one year (t3). In the second project, HbA1c levels and QoL values were measured pre-intervention (t1) and after one year (t2). In both projects, the results showed that HbA1c levels declined at t2 among participants in the IG group only. In the second project, IG patients exhibited improvement on the physical and psychological QoL scales compared to no improvement among CG. It was therefore concluded that Integrative intervention by pharmacy students decreased HBA1c levels and improved aspects of quality of life among T2DM patients. Practically, pharmacy students play an important role in bridging the gap between physician recommendations and patients’ optimal metabolic-control, by conducting continuous psycho-educational interventions.