Evaluating Pharmacists' Time Collecting Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose Data

Patients on intensive insulin regimens are encouraged to self-monitor blood glucose (SMBG) to optimize their therapy. Clinical pharmacist practitioners (CPPs) use SMBG data to adjust diabetes medications; however, collecting SMBG data from patients is seen anecdotally as time intensive.

CPPs involved in diabetes management on primary care teams at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Idaho were asked to estimate and record the following: SMBG data collection method, time spent collecting data, extra time spent documenting or formatting SMBG readings, total patient visit time, and visit type. For total patient visit time, pharmacists were asked to estimate only time spent discussing diabetes care and collecting SMBG data. Data were collected for 1 week using a standardized spreadsheet distributed to 24 CPPs.

Eight pharmacists provided data from 120 patient encounters. For all encounters, the mean time spent collecting SMBG data was 3.3 minutes, and completing additional documentation/formatting was 1.3 minutes for a total of 4.6 minutes. Patient visits lasted a mean 20.1 minutes; 16% was spent on data collection and 6% on documentation and formatting.

At the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center, CPPs spend relatively little time per patient collecting SMBG data for clinical use. However, this time can be substantial when multiplied over several patient encounters. Opportunities exist to increase efficiency in SMBG data collection and documentation.