BACKGROUND The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 offered the promise that prospective drug utilization review (pDUR) systems would improve the quality of drug prescribing and patient drug use. There is little evidence that this promise has been fulfilled. To the contrary, there is growing evidence that suboptimal use of drugs (in terms of preventable drug-related morbidity) is at least ...

In an earlier study, a patient with frontal lobe damage had been observed and had been noted to suffer from "an equivocal disturbance of error evaluation." The terms error "evaluation" and "utilization" were employed synonymously. Neuropsychological examination of the patient reported here clarifies this "equivocal disturbance": it became clear that error recognition remains intact although err...

OBJECTIVE Computer-tailored physical activity interventions are becoming increasingly popular. Recent reviews have comprehensively synthesised published research on computer-tailored interventions delivered via interactive technology (e.g. web-based programs) but there is a paucity of synthesis for interventions delivered via traditional print-based media in the physical activity domain (i.e. t...

CONTEXT Retrospective drug utilization review is required of all state Medicaid programs and is performed by most private-sector prescription programs. However, it has not been shown to improve clinical outcomes or reduce the rate of potential prescribing errors, known as "exceptions." OBJECTIVE To look for an effect of retrospective drug utilization review on the rate of exceptions and of cl...

Drug utilization evaluation (DUE) is an effective program to identify variability in drug use and to support interventions that will improve patient outcomes. The appropriate use of enoxaparin, a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), which is widely used as curative or preventive treatment of thromboembolic disorders was assessed in the study. A prospective DUE was carried out at Masih Daneshvar...

Drug utilization evaluation (DUE) is an effective program to identify variability in drug use and to support interventions that will improve patient outcomes. The appropriate use of enoxaparin, a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), which is widely used as curative or preventive treatment of thromboembolic disorders was assessed in the study. A prospective DUE was carried out at Masih Daneshvar...

This article offers empirical evidence of the utilization of evaluation findings of the World Bank Institute’s (WBI) efforts to help reduce corruption in Tanzania and Uganda. These initiatives are part of the World Bank-WBI program to curb corruption in developing countries. This analysis focuses on the mid-term evaluation of the WBI’s anti-corruption activities in those countries. The study sh...

This paper reviews empirical research conducted during the past 15 years on the use of evaluation results. Sixty-five studies in education, mental health, and social services are described in terms of their methodological characteristics, their orientation toward dependent and independent variables, and the relationships between such variables. A conceptual framework is developed that lists 12 ...