Praktické lekárnictvo 2/2017

Pharmacist´s role in educating a patient with diabetes mellitus – part II.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease which is becoming pandemic these days. According to the latest IDF data (International Diabetes Federation) for the year 2015, there are approximately 415 million people suffering from this disease in the world. It is estimated that there will have been 642 million people worldwide suffering from diabetes mellitus by the year 2040 (1). The main aim of pharmaceutical care is to prevent any treatment complications and to lower the risk of developing some complications of diabetes mellitus. A pharmacist is responsible not only for distributing and giving advice on taking medicines properly, but also they play an important role in checking and motivating in compliance with drug treatment and treatment regimes, as well as in estimating any other risk factors (dyslipidaemia, hypertension and so on). The second part of the article is aimed at the role of the pharmacist in educating patients with diabetes mellitus, especially in the realm of drug treatment and the right way of insulin application.

Keywords: pharmacist, pharmaceutical care, diabetes mellitus, insulin treatment