Objectives

The objectives of the Therapeutics Initiative are:

1. To assess new and existing drug therapies by the standards of the best evidence of clinical effectiveness in the scientific literature.
2. To use these assessments to establish cost-effective first choice drugs and recommendations for their optimal clinical use.
3. To design and implement a variety of educational strategies to deliver the evidence and recommendations to physicians and pharmacists.
4. To evaluate the impact of these educational approaches on physician prescribing patterns using the Pharmacare/Pharmanet data base and qualitative assessment methodologies.
5. To collaborate with other national and international groups involved in education and assessment of drugs.
6. To publish the results of the impact evaluations in peer reviewed journals.
7. To utilize the feedback obtained to reinforce and improve the physician and pharmacist education.
8. To act as an expert resource to Pharmacare, the provincial drug benefit program.

 

Organisation

Physicians and pharmacists required an unbiased source of therapeutics information. For this reason, the Therapeutics Initiative was established in the University and made independent from the government and any other vested interest groups.

The Scientific Information and Education Committee, the main working body of the Therapeutics Initiative, is made up of family physicians, specialists, academic researchers, clinical pharmacologists, pharmacists, epidemiologists, and a legal advisor. The mandate of this Committee is to be responsible for the accuracy and quality of the drug assessment process and to assist in the translation of the evidence into clinically relevant messages.

The Therapeutics Initiative has established four working groups: the Drug Assessment Working Group, the Therapeutics Letter Working Group, the Education Working Group, and the Evaluation Working Group. In addition to these, the Therapeutics Initiative also has a long list of committed medical specialists who have offered to provide expertise as needed.

 

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