SC-21 - Advanced Drug Utilization Research

1. Course Aim
A short synopsis of the course and overall aim.
This session focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions to improve the quality of medication use and approaches to evaluate complex drug utilization trajectories. It is based on real world studies, with examples to provide participants with skills and applied knowledge relevant for conducting studies aimed at improving medication dispensing and prescribing. The interactive program includes presentations, question and answer sessions, hands-on exercises and discussion with the faculty panel. The session will involve participants in the:
1. Application of principles derived from implementation research to develop interventions for improving drug utilization
2. Designs/methods for evaluating the effect of clinical practice or policy interventions when a randomised trial is not possible
3. Development and selection of quality measures and outcomes relevant for complex DU patterns

2. Requisites Statement
This should state a) whether other courses or level of expertise (Entry, Intermediate, Advanced level) is expected and b) any precourse materials need to be accessed or reviewed
All levels of expertise but specifically this course is targeted at:
1. Members of the DUR / HSR SIG
2. Graduate students interested in advanced DUR methods
3. Those interested in quality measurement and implementation research, development and evaluation of interventions, health and medicines policy areas
4. Clinical pharmacoepidemiologists, health service planners, clinical guidelines developers, health practitioners

3. Course Objectives
List out your course objectives (specified in 3-6 aims)
1. To gain understanding of the development, implementation and evaluation requirements for a DU intervention
2. To achieve insight into advanced methods to evaluate DU interventions and appropriateness of medication use
3. To understand the relevance of DUR to translate findings at various levels of the health system for improving health outcomes

4. Syllabus Outline
This should give a brief summary of each lecture/session (each 2-3 sentences max)
• Advanced Methods for evaluations using Drug Utilziation methods by Mina Tadrous
o Segmented times-series analysis and ARIMA modelling in DUR
o Intervention and Policy Evaluation and Forecasting
• Dose escalation trajectories in DUR and dealing with complex situations by Andrea Burden
• Decomposition methods for measuring disparities in drug utilization by Macarius Donneyong
• Wrap up and overview of other DUR activities during ICPE by Gillian Caughey