Diabetes management: current diagnostic criteria, drug therapies, and state legislation.

The policies, standards, guidelines, and criteria that each member of the healthcare team uses to assist in the delivery of comprehensive healthcare are constantly being defined and redefined. This article has discussed many of those changes as they relate to diabetes management. The entire healthcare team must have a working knowledge of these changes so that they can continue to deliver the best possible care to patients with diabetes. Improvements in quality of life, decreases in mortality and morbidity, and subsequent declines in healthcare costs will benefit both individual patients and society. The profession of pharmacy has realized the need for additional education and training in managing the patient with diabetes. Many colleges of pharmacy, as well as companies in the pharmaceutical industry, are offering diabetes certification and diabetes disease management programs to pharmacists to enhance their ability to manage these patients (Lyons T, Gourley DR, unpublished data, 1997. Similar efforts in diabetes management have been made in other health professions as well, such as nursing.