EXPANSION of diabetes education in a United States-Mexico border community (Expanding Services for Patients to Acquire New Skills, Set Goals, and Improve Overall Knowledge).

Objectives: To describe the process used by a pharmacy team at a community health center to coordinate and expand diabetes education services (English and Spanish) for a predominantly Hispanic, Spanish-speaking population.

Setting: The project was implemented at 2 clinics in a federally qualified community health center system based in a low-income southwest U.S.-Mexico border community.

Practice Innovation: This project enhanced accessibility to diabetes education to improve knowledge, skills, and goal setting through existing pharmacy services at the primary clinic and 1 rural satellite clinic.

Evaluation: The success of the project was evaluated quantitatively. Metrics used to evaluate enhancement of existing practices included enrollment and completion rates, number of sessions, and diabetes leadership meetings.

Results: Over the 5-month project period assessed, 7 interdisciplinary professionals were certified as Diabetes Empowerment Education Program educators. Four sessions were conducted at both clinics. A total of 31 participants completed the diabetes classes. An educational attainment of 8th grade or less was reported in 91% of the rural participants compared with 50% of the urban participants. Ten interdisciplinary leadership meetings centered on recruitment, progress toward goals, and action items to ensure quality of classes. A nurse practitioner and pharmacist piloted a shared-visit model with 5 patients during a 45-minute time period.

Conclusion: Successful diabetes education services occurred by implementing an evidence-based curriculum, identifying provider champions, increasing patient enrollment through provider referrals, and generating reports. Patient accountability was facilitated by setting patient-centered goals for knowledge and skills. Last, support groups provided ongoing support once patients graduated from a structured diabetes program.