Background Medication reviews are considered to be important to maintain a high quality of pharmacotherapy. However, there is a large variation in the quality of these reviews.

Aim To evaluate the covariates that may lead to high-quality medication reviews and to establish their relative importance.

Design Healthcare professionals, including community pharmacists, hospital pharmacists, nursing home physicians, general practitioners and geriatricians, were recruited in the province of Limburg, The Netherlands.

Method A research group, selected for their expertise in the field of medication reviews, established covariates that could possibly affect the quality of medication reviews. An electronic questionnaire, including these covariates, was developed and was subsequently sent to the participants who rated the covariates using a 10-point scale. Finally, the research group classified the scores. Physicians and pharmacists were evaluated jointly and separately to account for possible differences.

Results 29 out of 49 participants completed the study. 13 covariates were evaluated and their medians and ranges were calculated. The five most important covariates were, from most to less important, knowledge of the indication for the drug, use of guidelines, reviewer's professional field, knowledge of the medical history, and use of laboratory values. Both groups found the indication for the drug the most important covariate.

Conclusions We found that the most relevant covariates that may lead to a high-quality medication review are the drug's indication, use of patients’ medical history, use of guidelines, reviewer's professional field, and use of laboratory values.