Prioritization of diseases for the development of a pharmaceutical care service model in South Korea using the analytic hierarchy process .

OBJECTIVE

Drug therapy plays a critical role in most chronic diseases. Effectiveness of pharmaceutical care services in the improvement of clinical, social, or economic outcomes has been scientifically proven through numerous studies. In South Korea, to optimize and standardize pharmaceutical care for patients with chronic metabolic diseases, the development of a pharmaceutical care service model is needed.

MATERIALS

To determine the priority of diseases in developing pharmaceutical care service models, analytic hierarchny process (AHP)analysis was used. A survey questionnaire standardized with detailed evaluation areas and an index, to ensure sufficient understanding and identical standards of evaluators, was designed. It was prepared for pair-wise comparisons of individual criteria of candidate diseases.

METHODS

Medical specialists and pharmacists who have clinical experience and expertise in chronic metabolic diseases or at least 10 years of experience in pharmacy practice were recruited. They responded to a survey consisting of nine sections by using the pair-wise comparison method.

RESULTS

A total of seven candidate diseases were selected for prioritization. Diabetes mellitus was given the highest score of 0.2695, cardiovascular disease (0.2598) being the next, followed by chronic kidney disease (0.2000), and cerebrovascular diseases (0.1087). The criteria were weighted as follows: disease characteristics (0.4964), patient-oriented care (0.3649), and improvement in services (0.1386).

CONCLUSION: Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic kidney disease were found to have high priority in developing a pharmaceutical care service model in South Korea. In the future, further research for the development and application of pharmaceutical care services models for different types of diseases is required.
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