A program utilizing community pharmacists to improve diabetes education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The aim of this program was to demonstrate that retail community pharmacists could successfully recruit, engage and counsel people with diabetes by serving as a trusted source of diabetes information. We evaluated the outcomes of this clinical program in preparation for a wider roll out.

Joslin Diabetes Center collaborated with Nahdi Medical Company, a large retail pharmacy chain in Saudi Arabia, to offer a 'Let's Talk About Diabetes' (LTAD) program. LTAD consists of four 1: 1 counselling sessions, approximately 20 min each, scheduled over a 2-4 month period with a focus on medications, lab results, glucose monitoring and doctor visits. Twenty-five pharmacists completed diabetes education certification and intensive on-site training to deliver the LTAD program.

The 25 program pharmacists in 11 locations enrolled 2639 individual customers into the program. Of these, 1582 participated in at least one session and 1137 (71.9%) participated in at least one LTAD session and completed follow-up surveys. There were 380 customers with paired HbA1_C results which demonstrated a reduction from 8.50% (69 mmol/mol) to 7.32% (56 mmol/mol) (P < 0.001). There were improvements in diabetes awareness, attitudes towards diabetes and medication adherence.

The evaluation of this community program suggests that a pharmacy-led diabetes education program is feasible in Saudi Arabia.