Academic Detailing Can Play A Key Role In Assessing And Implementing Comparative Effectiveness Research Findings

From Health Affairs

By Michael Fischer, MD; Jerry Avorn, MD

SUMMARY: This Health Affairs article by Fischer and Avorn argues that academic detailing — the practice of providing clinicians with personalized, evidence-based educational outreach — is well positioned to help translate comparative effectiveness research (CER) findings into improved prescribing. As the national emphasis on CER generates growing volumes of head-to-head comparisons of drugs and other interventions, the challenge of getting those findings to front-line clinicians becomes critical. The authors draw on decades of experience with academic detailing programs to argue that the model's core strengths — tailored communication, trusted messengers, two-way dialogue — make it particularly effective at addressing the psychological and structural barriers that prevent evidence from changing practice. (Note: Full text paywalled; summary reflects publicly available title, abstract description, and field context only.)

BACKGROUND: Comparative effectiveness research (CER) produces systematic evidence comparing treatments, but translating those findings into actual prescribing changes at the clinical level has proven difficult.

KEY FINDINGS: Academic detailing — personalized educational outreach by trained clinicians — is well suited to help clinicians assess and implement CER findings, given its track record in changing prescribing behavior.

IMPLICATIONS: Integrating academic detailing into the dissemination infrastructure for CER findings could accelerate their adoption into clinical practice and improve patient outcomes.