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Methods: Pharmacists offered four group education classes to clinic patients over the course of one year using the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Conversation Maps®. Patients were encouraged to attend all four education sessions to be exposed to the entire curriculum; however, many were only able to attend a single class. If available, patients’ A1c, BP and LDL were monitored before the first and after the last class attended. Paired t-test and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.
Results: Thirty two patients attended at least one of the group classes, with nine returning for more than one class. Baseline characteristics for all patients included a mean age of 58 years, baseline A1c of 9.4%, systolic BP of 140.6 mmHg, diastolic BP of 77.2 mmHg and LDL of 99.1 mg/dL. An average decrease of 1.1% in A1c, 5.1 mmHg in systolic BP, 1.9 mmHg in diastolic BP and 4.6 mg/dL in LDL was seen when comparing all patients before and after participation in the classes. For patients that attended more than one class, a statistically significant decrease of 3.6% occurred with A1c (p<0.05). The majority of patients (84%) reported more satisfaction with the group diabetes classes than with individual education sessions and that they would most likely return to another class.
Conclusion: Clinical outcomes including A1c, BP and LDL improved when patients attended group diabetes education classes led by pharmacists. Furthermore, A1c was significantly reduced when patients attended more than one class. These data support offering group diabetes education classes as a method of patient education at a family medicine clinic.