Academic detailing is "

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

-based educational outreach." The process involves face-to-face education of prescribers by trained

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

professionals, typically

pharmacists A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

physicians A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

, or

nurses Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

. The goal of academic detailing is to improve prescribing of targeted

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

to be consistent with

medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

evidence from

randomized controlled trials A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical ...

, which ultimately improves patient care and can reduce

health care costs A health system, health care system or healthcare system is an organization of people, institutions, and resources that delivers health care services to meet the health needs of target populations. There is a wide variety of health systems aroun ...

. A key component of non-commercial or university-based academic detailing programs is that they (academic detailers/clinical educators, management, staff, program developers, etc.) do not have any financial links to the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing ...

. Academic detailing has been studied for over 25 years and has been shown to be effective at improving prescribing of targeted medications about 5% from baseline. Though it is primarily used to affect prescribing, it is also used to educate providers regarding other non-drug interventions, such as screening guidelines.

Organizations

Many academic detailing programs exist around the world. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, university-based state programs exist in Illinois,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, Oregon and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. The nonprofit organization Alosa Health runs an academic detailing program in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Washington, DC called the Independent Drug Information Service (IDIS). The National Resource Center for Academic Detailing (NaRCAD), funded by the

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; pronounced "ark" by initiates and often "A-H-R-Q" by the public) is one of twelve agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency is headquartered in North ...

(AHRQ) in 2010, was created to help organizations with limited resources to establish and improve their own programs and to create a network of academic detailing programs. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Pharmacy Benefits Management pilot tested the National Academic Detailing Service in 2010 to enhance veterans' outcomes by empowering clinicians and promoting the use of evidence-based treatments using delivered by clinical pharmacy specialists. After the pilot, in March 2015, the Interim Under Secretary for Health issued a memorandum requiring implementation of AD programs throughout the

Veterans Health Administration The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the healthcare program of the VA through a Nationali ...

. Programs also exist in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

through the Canadian Academic Detailing Collaboration (CADC), including the Centre for Effective Practice's (CEP) academic detailing service in Ontario, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

through the Drug and Therapeutics Information Service (DATIS) and the

National Prescribing Service NPS MedicineWise, previously the National Prescribing Service (NPS), was an Australian not-for-profit prescribing and pharmaceutical information service. The NPS was founded in March 1998 and funded by the federal Department of Health and Aged ...

(NPS). In Belgium academic detailing is provided by Project Farmaka.

References

* {{cite journal, last1=Silva, first1=JM, last2=Stein, first2=AT, last3=Schünemann, first3=HJ, last4=Bordin, first4=R, last5=Kuchenbecker, first5=R, last6=de Lourdes Drachler, first6=M, title=Academic detailing and adherence to guidelines for Group B streptococci prenatal screening: a randomized controlled trial., journal=BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, date=19 March 2013, volume=13, pages=68, pmid=23510061, doi=10.1186/1471-2393-13-68, pmc=3610286 , doi-access=free Medical education

Organizations

See also

References