Integrating personal continuous glucose monitoring use into a third-year therapeutics course: Reflections on...

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices represent an important innovation in diabetes management and an opportunity for experiential integration into the didactic curriculum. This reflective work describes pharmacy faculty experiences integrating CGM use into a therapeutics course and examines the insights gained from implementing this activity, using student survey findings on comfort and confidence with CGM counseling as context for reflection.

Second-year student pharmacists were invited to wear a CGM, devices were provided through an educational grant from Abbott Laboratories. Students completed surveys assessing comfort with CGM education, interpretation, and likelihood of recommending the technology. Thirty students participated, with 57% wearing the CGM for the full 14 days. After gaining CGM experience, participants' comfort in educating patients improved significantly, shifting from nearly half feeling "not comfortable at all" to over half feeling "extremely comfortable. Key takeaways included an enhanced understanding of how different foods influence glucose levels and an appreciation for the application's ease of use. Students also reported increased confidence in their ability to counsel patients effectively.

Faculty reflection on implementing this activity highlighted the value of experiential learning in helping students connect foundational science with lived patient experience. Student survey findings, including increased comfort with CGM counseling and data interpretation, provided context for these reflections and reinforced the potential of such activities to deepen engagement with diabetes management concepts. Faculty also recognized the importance of incorporating structured debriefing to help students translate personal experience into professional application in future iterations.

Incorporating CGMs into the curriculum reinforced for faculty the importance of experiential learning and helped students engage through diverse learning approaches.

Faculty should actively seek methods to embed experiential learning into coursework and facilitate meaningful reflection on students' personal experiences.