RESEARCH ARTICLES Impact of a Diabetes Certificate Program on PharmD Students' Knowledge and Skills

Objectives. To determine the impact of a pregraduation diabetes certificate program on PharmD students’ knowledge and skills. Methods. A comprehensive elective in diabetes was created and implemented in the third-professional year of the PharmD curriculum. A nonrandomized, single-blinded, controlled, 2-year study was conducted to determine the impact of the elective. Written and oral examinations were administered to the participants and students in a control group. Results. The certificate students’ (N 5 25) and control students’ (N 5 12) average oral examination grades were 88.5% 6 13.4% and 89.5% 6 15.8%, respectively (p 5 0.58). The certificate students’ average grade on the counseling section of the oral examination was 9% higher than that of the students in the control group (p 5 0.01). The certificate students’ and control students’ grades on the written examination were 80.9 6 11.1% and 61.1 6 17.4% (p 5 0.0062), respectively. Conclusions. A diabetes certificate program improved students’ knowledge of diabetes disease state management and patient education skills compared to students who did not take the elective.