Internal standards: rationale for use in a drug utilization review program

The comparison of drug usage data gathered from different institutions would be easier if standardized criteria were employed. There are, however, major difficulties encountered in gaining approval of such criteria from different physician groups. To facilitate the criteria approval process, "internal standards" were developed. These internal standards reflected the acceptable deviations from the standardized criteria, hence, permitting flexibility for innovation in drug therapy. A retrospective drug utilization review was conducted in two hospitals. The internal standards assigned were very similar to the 0 percent-100 percent standards recommended by InterQual except for the criteria on monitoring parameters and duration of therapy. It would appear from these preliminary results that the assignment of internal standards enhances the use of standardized criteria which, in turn, will allow comparisons of data.