Diabetes and hypertension screening by pharmacy students in Thai communities.

OBJECTIVE. To integrate pharmacy education into a diabetes and hypertension screening program to improve pharmacy student disease knowledge and screening skills and provide a valuable service to the community. METHODS. One hundred eighty third-year PharmD students were trained and subsequently screened people aged ≥35 years in 2 Thai communities. Those with high risk factors were encouraged to see a pharmacist or nurse for further evaluation and referral to a physician for diagnosis. RESULTS. After training, the third-year students showed significantly higher knowledge scores on diabetes and hypertension than a control group of second-year students (p<0.05). More than 80% of the third-year students were rated by pharmacist observers as having good community screening skills. More than 95% of community participants were satisfied or very satisfied with the screening session. The active screening program improved the screening coverage in the targeted communities from 41 people/month under the passive screening program to 127 people/month and improved the coverage rate over a 6-month period from 24% to 73%. CONCLUSION. This active screening project by pharmacy students enhanced the health knowledge and awareness of members of the targeted communities and increased pharmacy students' knowledge of and ability to screen for hypertension and diabetes.