Table 2.
Characteristics of included studies (N = 6)
| Characteristic | Studies | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Pharmacy Medicines Management Project Evaluation Team12 | Dierick-van Daele et al13 | Lee et al14 | Neilson et al15 | Richardson et al16 | Turner et al17 | |
| Country of origin | England | Netherlands | South Korea | UK | England | UK |
| Aims | To assess the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive community pharmacy medicines management (MEDMAN) service for patients with coronary heart disease | To assess the difference in costs between GPs and nurse practitioners (NPs) in treating common conditions | To assess community health practitioner services in primary care, and to assess the economic impact of these services | To measure the differences in mean costs and effects of a pharmacy-led service for the management of chronic pain in primary care | To assess the cost-effectiveness of nurse-led self-help treatments for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalitis in primary care | To assess health service resource use of nurse-led disease management for secondary prevention in patients with chronic heart disease and heart failure in primary care |
| Type of allied health professional substituting | Pharmacists | Nurse practitioners | CHPs | Pharmacists | Nurses | Nurses |
| Setting | Nine general practice sites | 15 general practices | Random sampling of CHPs working in community health posts | Six general practices | 186 general practices | 20 general practices |
| Length of follow-up | 12 months | 2 weeks | 6 months | 6 months | 70 weeks | 12 months |
| Type of economic evaluation analysis conducted | Cost-minimisation | Cost-minimisation | Cost-minimisation | Cost-utility | Cost-effectiveness | Cost-utility |
| Primary outcome measure | Appropriate treatment and health status (measured using the SF-36 and EQ-5D) | Direct costs within the healthcare sector and costs outside the healthcare sector (productivity losses) | Activity measures, for example, consultations and cost measures | Differences in mean total costs and effects QALYs | Costs and HRQoL, measured using QALYs | QALYs measured using EQ-5D |
| Quality assessment scorea | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
a
Quality rating based on the number of Drummond questions answered: 0–5 = poor quality, 6–8 = moderate quality, > 9 = good quality.11 CHPs = community health practitioners. EQ-5D = European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions measure. HRQoL = health-related quality of life. QALYS = quality-adjusted life years. SF-36 = Short Form-36 Health Survey.