Development and Reliability of an Appropriateness and Prioritization Instrument for Eye Care Practice: A Modified Delphi Process

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To modify the Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWLP) cataract prioritization criteria into measurement instruments for assessing appropriateness and prioritization emphasizing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and examining reliability.

Methods: A modified Delphi process was conducted using two rounds of online surveys and a face-to-face meeting. A panel of eye care experts rated the relevancy of criteria on a 5-point scale. Patient narratives highlighted the patient experience. A G-theory framework was used to assess inter- and intra-rater agreement using the criteria.

Results: Nine Ophthalmologists, three Optometrists, and one General Practitioner participated in the modified Delphi process. Consensus to include/exclude was reached on all criteria. Seventeen criteria were included and 16 were excluded. The most significant changes were related to the categorization of comorbidities and expansion of HRQoL questions. The overall reliability was good (_ϕ = 0.852).

Conclusion: The WCWLP was modified to include appropriateness and to better reflect HRQoL. Having achieved consensus and demonstrated reliability of the criteria, the next step is to estimate weights for criteria and to validate against patient health outcomes data.

KEYWORDS:

• Modified delphi
• prioritization
• access to care
• reliability

Conflicts of interest

None of the authors have any proprietary interests or conflicts of interest related to this submission.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Alcon, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Abbot Medical Optics. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.