Background: Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder caused by insulin resistance, insulin deficiency, or both leading to hyperglycemia along with an increased risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications if untreated. Children diagnosed with diabetes have a six to nine times higher risk of hospitalization in comparison to their peers without diabetes. At Wellstar MCG Health, pharmacists have not previously been involved with outpatient pediatric endocrinology management. During the 2025 – 2026 residency year, the PGY2 ambulatory care pharmacy resident has developed a new service in which the resident works collaboratively with the pediatric endocrinologist and nurse practitioner to manage medications and provide education for pediatric patients with diabetes mellitus. This implementation of a new pharmacy service is part of clinical care optimization and is not a research intervention. Multiple studies have demonstrated patient satisfaction with pharmacist management of diabetes within the adult primary care setting; however, data is lacking in the pediatric population. Regarding clinical outcomes, a previous study of pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes managed by a pharmacist found a mean decrease in hemoglobin A1c of 0.54 percentage points at six months in comparison to an increase of 0.32 in the control group. The study did not assess satisfaction with the services provided.6 The purpose of this study is to assess patient and caregiver satisfaction with the services provided by the PGY2 ambulatory care pharmacy resident for patients with diabetes in the pediatric endocrinology clinic.
Methods: This was an IRB exempt, observational, single center study of patients diagnosed with diabetes who were seen by the PGY2 ambulatory care pharmacy resident at the pediatric endocrinology clinic at Wellstar MCG Health. The primary outcome was patient/caregiver satisfaction with pharmacist engagement. The secondary outcome was change in hemoglobin A1c from baseline to 3 months. Data was collected via two methods.First, an anonymous survey assessing patient/caregiver satisfaction with pharmacist involvement in diabetes management was distributed in the pediatric endocrinology clinic. If agreeable, the patient/caregiver completed a paper survey consisting of 21 questions prior to leaving clinic. Second, a retrospective chart review of the pediatric endocrinology patients seen by the pharmacist was completed. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed rank tests as appropriate.
Results: A total of 41 surveys were completed. As self-reported on the survey, participants were a median 15 years old with a median 5 years since diagnosis of diabetes. 85.4% of participants had type 1 diabetes mellitus and 58.6% were female. Over 90% of survey respondents gave a positive response of “agree” or “strongly agree” regarding their satisfaction with pharmacist interaction. On a scale of 0 to 10, all respondents rated the pharmacist interaction as an 8, 9, or 10 with nearly 82% choosing 10/10. A total of 16 patients met criteria to be included for the chart review; the median A1c decreased from 11.0% at baseline to 9.3% at follow-up (p-value < 0.001).
Conclusions: Based on these results, patients and caregivers were satisfied overall with their interactions with the pharmacist. While the study was limited by a small sample size and short-term follow-up, there was a trend towards improvement in A1c after pharmacist involvement. This real-world study, using a dual survey and chart review design, provides new data on patient/caregiver satisfaction and further supports clinical outcomes with pharmacist involvement in pediatric diabetes management. Future research should be conducted after a longer duration of pharmacist diabetes management in pediatric patients.
