About Academic Detailing

Academic detailing is an innovative method of service-oriented educational outreach for physicians. Academic detailing supports improved clinical decision making by fostering one-on-one interaction between physicians and health professionals trained to communicate the latest evidence-based clinical data.  Academic detailing’s goal is to provide an accurate, up-to-date synthesis of relevant clinical information in a balanced and engaging format.

Doctors need an accurate, ongoing source of current data about the comparative effectiveness, safety, and costs of treatments. This information can be time-consuming to assemble from the research literature. Due to time constraints and competing demands for time, physicians are often forced to rely on more convenient sources of information.

Pharmaceutical sales representatives, sometimes called “drug detailers” because they provide detailed information about their products, visit physicians in their offices and deliver marketing materials focused on the products they promote. While the method of delivery is effective, the information is designed with specific commercial objectives in mind. As a result, many physicians are unaware if more effective, safer or less expensive options exist.

Academic detailing is a method of outreach education that combines the interactive, one-on-one communication approach of industry detailers with the evidence-based, noncommercial information of academia. The term “academic detailing” reflects this hybrid concept.  Although academic detailing was originally implemented to improve prescription drug use, the principles of academic detailing can be applied to outreach for a variety of other topics including diagnostic evaluations, prevention and screening, patient education and many others.

Academic detailing has been used in many countries, including Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the Netherlands to assist prescribers in making optimal treatment decisions. In 2005, the Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) Program launched the first large-scale state academic detailing program in the United States, with approximately a dozen detailers covering the state.  Multiple states are currently pursuing legislation to begin academic detailing programs of their own.

Academic detailing is a quality-driven endeavor that effectively and efficiently helps physicians make appropriate clinical decisions based on the best available safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness data. Public and private health care budgets are under increasing strain due to escalating costs of new drugs and therapies, which often come without increased clinical benefit. Through the dialogue it creates, academic detailing has the potential to improve patient care and health outcomes while helping to control costs, thus aligning the interests of physicians, payers and patients.