Program Enhances Use of Comparative Effectiveness Research Among Pharmacists

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) provides real-world evidence for improving the quality of care and achieving better patient outcomes. However, the extent to which data from clinical trials, clinical guidelines, and pharmacoeconomic studies are used to influence decision-making among pharmacy and therapeutics committees is unknown.

In order to assess the use of CER in the pharmacy and therapeutics (P&T) committee decision-making process, a retrospective, cross-sectional questionnaire was developed and mailed to CER individuals who had either attended workshops or who had expressed interest but then did not attend workshops. Using information gathered from participants 1 year after an in-person training program, in which they had been taught about CER designs and how to access available CER resources through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Effective Health Care (EHC) Program, data was analyzed to determine the outcomes of the program. 

Led by Daniel C Malone, PhD, RPh, the research team created a questionnaire designed to assess the impact that attending the CER program had on adoption and use of CER reviews and guides within health care organizations. 

A total of 164 respondents completed the questionnaire, including 63 program attendees and 101 nonattendees. The majority of respondents were pharmacists (95.7%) and were affiliated with a hospital (64.6%). Almost half of the respondents were employed at private, not-for-profit organizations (48.2%), and one-third (29.9%) of the respondents were located in the Midwest and were aged 35-45 years (29.3%).

While there were many similarities between the respondents, proportions of attendees and non-attendees differed significantly in the use of EHC research reviews/reports (45% and 28%, respectively) and EHC executive summaries of research reviews/reports (48% and 29%, respectively). For the 1-year follow-up, the majority of attendees reported an increase (“somewhat” or “very much”) in knowledge of CER (91.5%), ability to use CER (83.0%), and the use of CER studies (58.7%). The findings were published in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy (2016;22(6):618-625).

The study findings provide evidence that repeated presentation of information regarding CER may encourage learning and behavior change among health care professionals.—Nina Farrell