This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Tue Jul 23 18:27:35 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Pharmacist aims to reach thousands with new diabetes guidebook --------------------------------------------------- As a pharmacist for more than 20 years, Dr. Lori MacCallum has found few things more rewarding that one-on-one interactions with patients. Sitting down with an individual to help them on what can often be a complex path to health brings a certain satisfaction, but Dr. MacCallum has been slightly removed from that in recent years. Over the past 12 months, the Aurora pharmacist, a program director at the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto, has been making up for lost time – going deep “in the trenches” to have a direct impact on thousands of patients across the country struggling with diabetes and the treatment that often go with it. “I am overjoyed because you work on this for over a year, you are into the little details of every little line, and it is hard to make something simple,” she explains. “For a year, I have just been in the trenches with many other contributors and it becomes almost like your baby. You are putting it out in the world and you don't know what the response is going to be.” The baby? The Guidebook for Pharmacists on Diabetes Management. The Guidebook, which brings together expertise and case studies from leading people in the diabetes field, was spearheaded by Dr. MacCallum to help pharmacists, particularly community pharmacists, in the direct role they play in their patients' health. “A pharmacist has a huge role to play in the management of diabetes,” says Dr. MacCallum. “They are frontline healthcare providers and people with diabetes will see a pharmacist more often than any other healthcare provider. We saw a real opportunity that way to support people with diabetes and give them the knowledge and the confidence of pharmacists in managing and caring for people and working with patients.” Patients with the disease can often be on complex combinations of medications and battling other health issues that can add to the complexity, so the book is intended to be a resource pharmacists can have at their fingertips when they sit down with patients to help them manage. It covers everything from managing high blood sugar and blood pressure, to counselling and diet and exercise. In researching the book with fellow pharmacists from across Canada, Dr. MacCallum said they found over 85 per cent of people with diabetes are on more than just one medication, but over 50 per cent of these people don't take their medications properly. They set a threefold goal with the book: to help the individual pharmacist, provide a business model for a community pharmacy in providing that all-important one-on-one interaction with a patient, and suggested improvements healthcare systems across the board. “A community pharmacist needs to know so many medications, numerous diseases, almost like a family doctor,” she says. This week, 4,500 books are en-route to community pharmacists across Canada. In a grassroots effort to create strong bonds between this nation-wide group of pharmacists, they are also launching an online network to share these resources at diabetespharmacistsnetwork.ca to build on this model. Once the network is fully off the ground, stories can be shared on how tips in the guidebook have had an impact on patients, share ideas and best practices, and develop further programs based on that. Many community pharmacists in places like Aurora, King, and elsewhere don't have the “luxury” of leaving their practices for extended periods of time to attend academic roundtables at various hospitals, so this is a way to further that education and expertise, she says. Dr. MacCallum, a Nova Scotia native, began studying pharmacy in Toronto in 1998, prompted by her mother who said “pharmacy is a good job for a woman.” Years later, she says with a laugh that she still doesn't quite understand what her mom meant with that remark – but chalks it up to pure pragmatism. Evidently, however, her mom hit on something and it has been a passion for her daughter ever since. Delving deeper in to the area of study, Dr. MacCallum said she was struck by just how diverse a field it was, and eventually gravitated towards nephrology and eventually to diabetes research. “Now that the book is out there, the most rewarding thing for me will be if I am walking in Metro, doing my grocery shopping, and I see a pharmacist sitting down with a patient using the book,” she says. “They don't have to see me, they don't have to know who I am, but if I saw that I would be over the moon because I know it is making a difference for the individual patients. “In my past work at St. Mike's, I was in a clinic dealing with patients very often and it is extremely rewarding to sit down with them and know you have made a difference and feel good about it. Now, I am helping thousands of pharmacists do that for their patients.” --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-10-01 14:59:21 Post date GMT: 2014-10-01 18:59:21 Post modified date: 2014-10-08 12:18:54 Post modified date GMT: 2014-10-08 16:18:54 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com