Rl. Williard et al., CHARACTERISTICS, IMPORTANCE, AND IMPLICATIONS OF COMPREHENSIVE DRUG-THERAPY MANAGEMENT, American journal of health-system pharmacy, 53(6), 1996, pp. 623-632
Ideas and opinions about comprehensive drug therapy management (CDTM)
were gathered from an expert panel representing health care practition
ers, educators, and consumers. A qualitative method of inquiry, the De
lphi technique, was used to aggregate opinions of an expert panel of h
ealth care professionals, health care educators, and consumer represen
tatives. The 66 experts who agreed to participate in the study consist
ed of 10 from pharmacy education, 10 from pharmacy professional associ
ations, 20 from managed care, 19 from primary care, and 7 consumers (p
ublic members of health care regulatory and governing boards). Each pa
rticipant was sent a questionnaire designed to evaluate a preliminary
definition of CDTM and gather opinions on related topics. A second que
stionnaire was sent to the participants to determine the extent of the
ir agreement with each statement generated by the first questionnaire.
A third questionnaire was sent, asking participants to reconsider the
ir ratings in light of the group's responses and to choose the most im
portant elements. The response rates were 83% for the first questionna
ire, 70% for the second, and 76% for the third. The panel reached a hi
gh level of agreement on a definition of CDTM. Panel members also iden
tified many critical aspects of CDTM, including what makes it worthwhi
le, barriers to and facilitators of engaging in CDTM, key participants
, ways in which responsibility for CDTM may be shared, and the compete
ncies needed for CDTM. An expert panel of health care leaders and futu
re leaders, within and outside the pharmacy profession, reached a high
level of agreement on a definition of CDTM and identified many critic
al aspects of this concept.