Background Lack of education and confidence on the appropriate use and administration of glucagon by non-trained carers can lead to medication errors and untreated hypoglycaemic episodes.

Purpose To validate the usefulness of a specifically developed educational tool kit intended for education of pharmacists on timely and appropriate use of glucagon.

Material and methods A Glucagon Tool Kit was created as part of continuous professional training intended for pharmacists. The Glucagon Tool Kit consisted of an online video, information sheet and informative chart. The video was available in both Maltese and English, lasted 1.5 min and explained how to reconstitute and administrate glucagon. The information sheet provided concise information on hypoglycaemia and briefly highlighted issues related to glucagon, such as storage, steps to reconstitute and dosage regimen. The informative chart depicted the reconstitution procedure with the help of images and short phrases. The Glucagon Tool Kit was validated by an expert panel and distributed to all pharmacists. A questionnaire was compiled to assess the knowledge and confidence of glucagon use by pharmacists. The questionnaire was run twice—namely prior to distribution of the Glucagon Tool Kit and again immediately after distribution of the kit.

Results 135 pharmacists completed the questionnaire of whom 44% were community pharmacists. The knowledge of pharmacists on the use of glucagon increased from 12.6% to 89.6% (paired sample t-test p<0.001) following the distribution of the educational Glucagon Tool Kit. The pharmacists’ confidence on the use of glucagon increased from 11.1% to 76.3% (paired sample t-test p<0.001) following the use of the educational Glucagon Tool Kit. The majority of respondents (95%) found the video sufficiently concise, 91% thought that the Tool kit was very useful and 95% rated it as informative.

Conclusion The educational material had a significant impact on the knowledge and confidence the pharmacist had on the use and reconstitution of glucagon. Improving the knowledge and confidence of pharmacists on the appropriate use of glucagon will empower them to support patients and carers in the use of glucagon in emergencies.

No conflict of interest