The Effects of Follow-up Telephone Calls Combined with Face-to-face Meetings on Clinical and Humanistic Outcomes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

직접 대면 방식과 병행한 전화를 이용한 복약상담이 제 2형 당뇨병 환자의 치료성과에 미치는 영향

There is a lack of evidence on the impact of pharmacist interventions in diabetes care in South Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pharmacist counseling on clinical and humanistic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. An uncontrolled before-and-after study was conducted at the outpatient diabetes clinic in a teaching hospital in Gyeongnam, South Korea between January 2 and November 30, 2014. A total of 37 patients were enrolled. During the study periods, the participants and pharmacists met every 2 weeks via follow-up telephone calls in addition to face-to-face meetings upon returning for care visit. At each meeting, a structured patient counseling was performed and the average duration of each meeting was 15~30 minutes. The participants were requested to record daily self-care activities. At the end of this study, patients' satisfaction on pharmacist care was evaluated using the questionnaire developed by us. Compared to baseline, significant reductions (mean${\pm}$standard deviation, p<0.05) in HbA1c were observed at each follow-up period: $-0.32{\pm}0.72%$ from baseline to 3 months; $-0.52{\pm}0.76%$ from baseline to 6 months; $-0.72{\pm}0.76%$ from baseline to 9 months. Over the same follow-up period, the proportions of patients achieving target HbA1c (defined as HbA1c<6.5%) were 3.1%, 10.3%, and 20%, respectively. The proportions of patients who never missed a dose during the same follow-up period were 43.8%, 31.0%, and 20.0%, respectively. The results from the patient satisfaction survey indicated that pharmacist counseling improved patients' knowledge about diabetes and possible drug interactions. Especially, the information on a healthy diet and lifestyle was the most satisfying. To conclude, follow-up telephone calls combined with face-to-face meetings improved clinical and humanistic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.