Gap analysis: assessing the value perception of consultant pharmacist services and the performance of consultant pharmacists.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the importance of services provided by consultant pharmacists and to assess perception of their performance of services.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional; nursing facility team.
SETTING: Random e-mail survey of consultant pharmacists; phone survey of team members. PARTICIPANTS: 233 consultant pharmacists (practicing in a nursing facility); 540 team members (practicing in a nursing facility, interacting with > or = 1 consultant pharmacist): 120 medical directors, 210 directors of nursing, 210 administrators. INTERVENTION: Consultant pharmacists, directors of nursing, medical directors, and administrators rating importance/performance of 21 services. Gap between teams' ratings of importance and consultant pharmacists' performance is assessed to categorize services. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Importance/performance ranked on five-point scale. Mean scores used for gap analysis to cluster services into four categories.
RESULTS: Per combined group, six services categorized as "Keep It Up" (important, good performance), consensus with individual groups, except discrepancy with medical directors, for one service. Six services each categorized as "Improve" (important, large gap) and "Improve Second" (lower importance, large gap), with varied responses by individual groups. Three different services were categorized into "Don't Worry," with consensus within individual groups.
CONCLUSION: Consensus from all groups found 5 of 21 services are important and performed well by consultant pharmacists, indicating to maintain performance of services. For three services, consultant pharmacists do not need to worry about their performance. Thirteen services require improvement in consultant pharmacists' performance; various groups differ on extent of improvement needed. Results can serve as benchmark comparisons with results obtained by consultant pharmacists in their own facilities.