University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Announces Online Seminars Concerning the Impact of Heterogeneity with Drug Therapy
Tucson, Ariz. (PRWEB) October 08, 2013 -- The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy announces the availability of four no-cost online seminars that explain why it's important to consider heterogeneity when making healthcare treatment decisions.
Heterogeneity in this context refers to the value of asking the question “Will this medication work for this individual?” as compared to asking the question “Will this medication work?”
The presentations explain how heterogeneity affects treatment outcomes and how such evidence can be used to improve the health of patients.
Who should watch: The seminars will benefit medical and pharmacy directors, pharmacy managers, clinical support pharmacists and clinicians who interpret medical literature.
Viewers will learn:
• Approaches to evaluating clinical literature for heterogeneity among patients and studies
• Implications of applying evidence on “average effects” from study populations to individual patients or groups
• How heterogeneity influences treatment outcomes
The presentations are:
1. “Medical and pharmacy coverage decision making at the population and patient level” by Penny Mohr, MA, vice president of program development at the Center for Medical Technology Policy
2. “Strategies to manage heterogeneity from the health plan perspective” by J. Russell Teagarden, DMH, RPh, senior vice president of medical and scientific affairs at the National Organization for Rare Disorders
3. “Differences within and across patients” and
4. “Differences within and across studies” by Daniel Malone, RPh, PhD, professor at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy
To access the presentations, go to http://cer.pharmacy.arizona.edu/education/heterogeneity.
The seminars were supported by funding from the National Pharmaceutical Council and have been presented at national meetings. The series was developed by the Comparative Effectiveness Research Group at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy.
In addition to the seminars, other useful tools for reviewing research can be found at http://cer.pharmacy.arizona.edu. The tools are:
• Checklists for assessing heterogeneity that may occur within and across studies
• Quickguide for finding links to medication-related comparative effectiveness research documents from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Effective Healthcare Program website
• Comparative effectiveness research glossary
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Karin Lorentzen, University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, http://www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/, +1 (520) 626-3725, [email protected]
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