PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST INFORMATION ON GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS AT A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN SOUTHERN INDIA

Context: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) early diagnosis of disease can reduce the morbidity and mortality by prevention of maternal and fetal complications. Aims: To assess the impact of clinical pharmacist knowledge on GDM mothers. Setting Tertiary care teaching hospital of North Karnataka, India. Methods and Materials: A randomized controlled cross-sectional study was carried out for a period of 4 years. Pregnant women with GDM were divided into control (C) and interventional (I) groups. Group C patients received only physicians’ counselling whereas, group I patients received both clinical pharmacist counselling and physicians’ counselling. Both the groups were screened for blood glucose levels at baseline and follow-up. Results: A total of 500 (group C, n=250 and group I, n=250) mothers diagnosed to have GDM participated in the study and randomized into two groups. Initially the knowledge of GDM among pregnant women was poor. After the clinical pharmacist counselling, knowledge was enhanced, which prompts better education and use of new methods such as phemplets, audio visual methods and flipcharts. Conclusions: The results of this study showed noteworthy changes in knowledge after clinical pharmacist structured counselling.