Participant and GP perspectives and experiences of screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes in community pharmacy during the Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial.

Background: The Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial (PDST) evaluated three approaches to screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in community pharmacy: (1) paper-based risk assessment (AUSDRISK) alone; and AUSDRISK followed by a point of care test if AUSDRISK ≥ 12; with either (2) HbA1c; or (3) small capillary blood glucose Test (scBGT). This paper reports the perspectives and experiences of the pharmacy screening service of two key stakeholder groups: screening participants and general practitioners (GPs).

Methods: All referred participants (n = 2242) received an online survey to determine the outcome of the referral, as well as their level of satisfaction with the service.

Pharmacy diabetes screening trial (PDST): Outcomes of a national clustered RCT comparing three screening methods for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in community pharmacy.

Aims: To compare the effectiveness of three pharmacy-based screening methods for type 2 diabetes (T2DM): (1) risk assessment (AUSDRISK) alone (Group A); AUSDRISK followed by a point of care test if AUSDRISK ≥12; either (2) HbA1c (Group B); or (3) small capillary blood glucose test (Group C).

Methods: A cluster RCT with a nationally representative sample of Australian pharmacies was implemented with random allocation of eligible pharmacies to Groups A, B or C. GP referral was based on prespecified cut offs.

Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial: protocol for a pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled trial to compare three screening methods for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes in Australian community pharmacy.

Introduction: With the rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Australia, screening and earlier diagnosis is needed to provide opportunities to intervene with evidence-based lifestyle and treatment options to reduce the individual, social and economic impact of the disease. The objectives of the Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial are to compare the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of three screening models for type 2 diabetes in a previously undiagnosed population.

Methods And Analysis: The Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial is a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial to be conducted in 363 community pharmacies across metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia, randomly allocated by geographical clusters to one of three groups, each with 121 pharmacies and 10 304 screening participants.

A Simulated Learning Environment for Teaching Medicine Dispensing Skills.

Objective: To develop an authentic simulation of the professional practice dispensary context for students to develop their dispensing skills in a risk-free environment.

Design: A development team used an Agile software development method to create MyDispense, a web-based simulation. Modeled on virtual learning environments elements, the software employed widely available standards-based technologies to create a virtual community pharmacy environment.

Autoantibodies to MUC1 glycopeptides cannot be used as a screening assay for early detection of breast, ovarian, lung or pancreatic cancer.

Background: Autoantibodies have been detected in sera before diagnosis of cancer leading to interest in their potential as screening/early detection biomarkers. As we have found autoantibodies to MUC1 glycopeptides to be elevated in early-stage breast cancer patients, in this study we analysed these autoantibodies in large population cohorts of sera taken before cancer diagnosis.

Methods: Serum samples from women who subsequently developed breast cancer, and aged-matched controls, were identified from UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) and Guernsey serum banks to formed discovery and validation sets.