Webinar: “Using Real-World Data & Published Evidence in Pharmacy Quality Improvement Activities”

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“Using Real-World Data & Published Evidence in Pharmacy Quality Improvement Activities”

On Monday, May 20, 2013, we presented a webinar on “Using Real-World Data & Published Evidence in Pharmacy Quality Improvement Activities” for the member organizations of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP).

The 80-minute discussion addressed four topic areas, all of which have unique critical appraisal challenges. Webinar goals were to discuss issues that arise when conducting quality improvement efforts using real world data, such as data from claims, surveys and observational studies and other published healthcare evidence.

Key pitfalls were cherry picked for these four mini-seminars—

  • Pitfalls to avoid when using real-world data, dealing with heterogeneity, confounding-by-indication and causality.
  • Key issues in evaluating oncology studies — outcome issues and focus on how to address large attrition rates.
  • Important issues when conducting comparative safety reviews — assessing patterns through use of RCTs, systematic reviews, observational studies and registries.
  • Key issues in evaluating studies employing Kaplan-Meier estimates — time-to-event basics with attention to the important problem of censoring.

A recording of the webinar is available at—

https://achp.webex.com/achp/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=45261732&rKey=1475c8c3abed8061&act=pb

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Review of Endocrinology Guidelines

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Review of Endocrinology Guidelines

Decision-makers frequently rely on the body of pertinent research in making decisions regarding clinical management decisions. The goal is to critically appraise and synthesize the evidence before making recommendations, developing protocols and making other decisions. Serious attention is paid to the validity of the primary studies to determine reliability before accepting them into the review.  Brito and colleagues have described the rigor of systematic reviews (SRs) cited from 2006 until January 2012 in support of the clinical practice guidelines put forth by the Endocrine Society using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) tool [1].

The authors included 69 of 2817 studies. These 69 SRs had a mean AMSTAR score of 6.4 (standard deviation, 2.5) of a maximum score of 11, with scores improving over time. Thirty five percent of the included SRs were of low-quality (methodological AMSTAR score 1 or 2 of 5, and were cited in 24 different recommendations). These low quality SRs were the main evidentiary support for five recommendations, of which only one acknowledged the quality of SRs.

The authors conclude that few recommendations in field of endocrinology are supported by reliable SRs and that the quality of the endocrinology SRs is suboptimal and is currently not being addressed by guideline developers. SRs should reliably represent the body of relevant evidence.  The authors urge authors and journal editors to pay attention to bias and adequate reporting.

Delfini note: Once again we see a review of guideline work which suggests using caution in accepting clinical recommendations without critical appraisal of the evidence and knowing the strength of the evidence supporting clinical recommendations.

1. Brito JP, Tsapas A, Griebeler ML, Wang Z, Prutsky GJ, Domecq JP, Murad MH, Montori VM. Systematic reviews supporting practice guideline recommendations lack protection against bias. J Clin Epidemiol. 2013 Jun;66(6):633-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.01.008. Epub 2013 Mar 16. PubMed PMID: 23510557.

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