Pilot Student-Led Point-of-Care Testing Program
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Date
2023-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The College of Pharmacy Point of Care(POC) Testing Training course was implemented to encourage and educate students to engage with communities through health screening events. This training and outreach help to provide improved access to POC services such as glucose testing meters and counseling. The goal of this research is to analyze the data collected from screening events which occurred during the first two years of the POC program and then propose other services that should be incorporated into future screening events. This is a retrospective study evaluating patients' self-reported health conditions and measured blood glucose. This data was drawn from questions answered on 169 unique Blood Glucose Release Forms collected during screenings, which occurred at seven sites throughout Columbus, Ohio between October 2020 to April 2022. Data was summarized then analyzed to investigate the opportunity for additional screening services that will best support the Columbus population currently being reached by these screening events. Patient forms were submitted with varying degrees of completion. With 167 responses, the average age was 36.3 years old. 76 patients were 20-30 and 35 were 50-65. With 159 responses, 73 reported male. With 142 responses, 38 reported their race as Black/African American. With 121 responses for minutes of exercise/week, 12 patients reported 0 minutes, 32 reported 30 minutes and 19 reported 60. With 101 responses for previously known health conditions, 34 reported high blood pressure (BP) and 12 diabetes/high blood sugar. With 157 measured blood glucose levels, 119 had normal values, 26 elevated, 12 high, and 0 considered low. The collected results help to define the population that participates in the program's screening events. Based on risk factors defined by the American Heart Association, the addition of blood pressure (BP) screenings and heart health education may be the most impactful addition to benefit this program's patient population. Next steps for the POC service is to develop training for student pharmacists on this new service with the end goal of improving health outcomes for the greater Columbus community.
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Keywords
point of care, clinical services, pharmacy education, blood pressure, screening events