There may be a relationship between health literacy and disease state control and health literacy and medication adherence. Future research, with adequate representation of patients with low health literacy, is needed to further define this relationship and explore interventions to overcome the impact that low health literacy may have on patient outcomes.

Consistent with the American College of Clinical Pharmacy's vision that future clinical pharmacy practitioners who provide direct patient care should be board-certified specialists, a new framework for pharmacist specialty board certification is proposed. This White Paper describes the current and projected needs of the pharmacy profession regarding board certification, provides a rationale for the new framework, and discusses the potential ramifications of changes in the current board-certification process.

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There is increasing evidence demonstrating negative consequences and poor clinical outcomes associated with untreated hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients. Data in specific patient populations, primarily critically ill patients, demonstrate improved patient outcomes with tight glycemic control. To date, no clear evidence exists to determine optimal glycemic targets in non-critically ill patients; however, experts agree that better glycemic control in hospitalized patients is warranted. Glycemic control is complicated by numerous factors in hospitalized patients including increased circulating stress hormones, changing nutritional status, and administration of medication therapies that contribute to hyperglycemia. In addition, fear of hypoglycemia among health care providers, a commonly cited barrier, contributes to the failure to adopt more intensive insulin regimens. Current practice trends have proven ineffective and major changes are needed. Some of those trends include the use of sliding scale insulin, continuation of oral agents or combination insulins upon admission, and provider reluctance to initiate insulin in patients not receiving insulin prior to admission. With proper education, safe and effective use of insulin can be used during hospitalization to improve glycemic control. The following article reviews the benefits of glycemic control, identifies barriers to achieving glycemic control, and describes strategies for health care providers and institutions to realize glycemic control in medically ill hospitalized patients.