Diabetes and its related conditions have become increasingly complex and prevalent. Furthermore, diabetes is closely associated with multiple comorbidities and complications. Helping people manage these interconnected disorders requires a team approach, with frequent touchpoints and optimal guidance. As numerous treatments and technologies can enhance diabetes care, these modalities also increase the complexity of clinical diabetes management. A skilled interprofessional team represents a best practice model in diabetes care. Pharmacists have played a central and critical role in diabetes care, consistently improving patient outcomes. Ample evidence has suggested that pharmacist-led treatment protocols improve diabetes care and patient outcomes, particularly given the shortage of specialized pharmacists in the field. This highlights the need to establish a structured postgraduate training consortium and to recognize diabetology pharmacists, a newly emerging classification of clinical pharmacists with training and experience in diabetology (a newly recognized medical subspecialty). This article outlines a strategic plan to set the foundation for bridging current gaps and introducing the much-needed voice of pharmacists in diabetology. This plan involves partnering with the American College of Diabetology (ACD) to convene a consortium of clinical pharmacy experts who focus on diabetes to institute a call to action and design a set of competencies for credentialing ACD-certified diabetology pharmacists.
Young et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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