Overcoming Challenges in CGM Use Through Education: Mary Vuong, PharmD, BCPPS

While continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) offer a game-changing way for pediatric and adolescent patients to manage their diabetes, ensuring their effective use presents challenges, explains Mary Vuong, PharmD, BCPPS, chief of clinical operations, Perfecting Peds.

Transcript

How could you see the FDA’s move to expand access to over-the-counter CGMs impacting care for pediatric patients, particularly those with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes?

I think it's a total game changer. Just from having a lot of patients—especially in the Pittsburgh area—[using] CGMs, I think it's really helped them just have more information. With the advent of smartwatches and things like that, we are in an era where we love information. Constantly having their blood glucose readings and constantly being able to be empowered to make changes and to watch their blood glucose, I think, is a big game changer.

Also, for those with type 2 diabetes, I think it's really important to empower them, because it’s something that wasn’t really acquired genetically—it was something acquired through lifestyle. If you know more information, and if you have it at your fingertips, you can make more changes for yourself.

What are the challenges in ensuring accurate use of CGMs in younger populations?

I think the biggest challenges are ensuring accurate use, making sure it’s placed properly, that it’s not defective in any way, and just ensuring that the child—or the adolescent—knows how to use it. Because I think it’s great to have something, but if you don’t know how to use it properly, and if you don’t know how to read the readings or what they mean, then that poses a huge challenge.

One of the biggest and most important things, I think, as a health care provider, is educating. And that’s something that with every patient visit we have, we always ensure—okay, you have this device, but do you know how to use it? It can’t just be like, “Okay, here it is; here’s the instruction box.”

I’m a big device girl. If you look at my desk, I have every single device I can get my hands on so I can show patients. If they don’t know [how to use it], and if they need repetitive help, we have our nurses continually call and teach them. It’s really just empowerment through education.