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September 3, 2014
Few Pharmacists Urging Diabetes Patients to Use
Control Solution 

Orlando, FL—Pharmacists could do a much better job of urging diabetes patients to regularly use control solution to assure glucometer accuracy, according to a presentation at the recent American Association of Diabetes Educators meeting in Orlando.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy in Tulsa reported that in a survey, only 23% of diabetes patients said they use control solution; 67% of those said they did not even know about it.

Patient compliance was not the only issue, however, according to the presentation: Just 14% of pharmacists and 56% of physicians consistently recommend using control solution, according to the study.

For the study, the researchers visited 25 pharmacies in Tulsa to determine how much control solution was in stock. Those visits were followed by phone interviews with 60 diabetes patients whose records were pulled from the University of Oklahoma’s database as well as with additional pharmacists. Finally, a web survey was conducted with 32 physicians.

Only one of the 25 pharmacies visited had control solution displayed where patients could see it for purchase, according to the study authors. Most of the pharmacists told the researchers that they never recommend it or only recommend it in certain situations—43% in each case. In fact, only 39% said they regularly stock control solution.

Further, despite the low rates of recommendation concerning control solution, all of the pharmacists surveyed said they were familiar with control solution and 61% said they believed it should be part of routine practice.

One reason healthcare professionals failed to recommend the use of control solution is because they incorrectly believed it was not necessary with more recent glucometers, according to the study. Manufacturers recommend, however, that control solution be used when an error or malfunction is suspected or when a new glucometer or vial of test strips is used.

The type of diabetes also was a factor: Patients with type 1 diabetes used control solution 38% of the time, while those with type 2 diabetes used it only 15% of the time.

Study authors suggested that regular use of control solution likely would become more critical as the FDA creates stricter criteria on glucometers. Current FDA criteria requires 99% of meter results to fall plus or minus of 15% of true value based on the International Organization for Standardization guidelines, up four percentage points in the last decade.

The lapse in knowledge about and usage of control solution is an opportunity for diabetes educators, according to the researchers.

Pharmacists responding to the survey also suggested that control solution might be used more regularly if it were included with packages of test strips.

 



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