Alaa Bagalagel
King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
Biography
Diabetes is a significant and growing healthcare concern in the Middle East and globally. Almost 37 million people have diabetes in Middle East now. If we do not act now, this figure will rise to 68 million by 2035. Saudi Arabia is the 2nd highest-ranking country in the world with regard to diabetes prevalence at 23.90%. In schools of pharmacy, education about diabetes may be a standard part of the curriculum although the depth of coverage or the extent students are able to apply what they learn may vary especially in Diabetes self-management education (DSME). DSME is a critical element of care for all people with diabetes and those at risk for developing the disease. It is necessary in order to prevent or delay the complications of diabetes. We arranged a program, for pharmacy students, partnering didactic instruction on diabetes with life experience as both a mock patient with diabetes and as a pharmacist taking care of a patient with diabetes applying DSME concept and guideline through Simulated Diabetes Education Center. Several studies demonstrating value when a pharmacist is part of the diabetes provides education care team. To reflect this instructional format for pharmacy students, we will synchronize role-play and group education in a Simulated Diabetes Education Center. Our goal is to develop a more comprehensive APPE that would provide a better core level of knowledge and, at the same time, expose the student to experiential learning about diabetes. Specific objectives are to: improve student knowledge about diabetes improve student confidence in providing diabetes care through DSME; and improve integration of the didactic lectures on diabetes provided in the therapeutics course with the problem-based learning cases.