title: Best practices: comparing medication treatments in mental health: drug class reviews and policy challenges.
abstract: Advances in the number and type of medications for psychiatric illness have substantially aided physicians. However, as the number of available medications within a class increases, so does the complexity in decision making for provider and patient. Systematic review of a class of medications can assist providers in drug choice. The purpose and methods of such drug class reviews are described. Critical elements of a quality review include the choice of the question, explicit eligibility criteria, systematic search of the literature, article abstraction, and sometimes pooling of the data by using meta-analysis with direct or indirect comparison of study findings. Best practices are suggested for clinicians, administrators, and policy makers to consider when using drug class reviews in clinical organizations. The number of drug class reviews is increasing, and they have the potential to significantly assist providers, patients, and payers.
authors.affiliation: Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. tim_carey@unc.edu
authors.forename: Timothy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Carey
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Melvin
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oldham
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Goodman
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D004346:Drug Information Services; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D011050:Policy Making; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs