Efficacy and Cost-Containment in Hospital Pharmacotherapy: State of the Art and Future Directions

How Can We Increase Translation of Research into Practice? Types of Evidence Needed

“…Efforts must be made to build providers' skills for assisting in behavior change management and to provide multiple and positive reinforcement of efforts, as well as reminders and feedback on results (14,17,89,93). Promising results have been achieved in randomized trials of "academic detailing" (2,83,89).…”

“…Efforts must be made to build providers' skills for assisting in behavior change management and to provide multiple and positive reinforcement of efforts, as well as reminders and feedback on results (14,17,89,93). Promising results have been achieved in randomized trials of "academic detailing" (2,83,89). The principles of this method (91) include understanding clinician behavior; use of succinct, high-quality graphical materials; sponsorship by authoritative and credible organizations; and presentation and discussion of barriers and counterarguments (3,6,83).…”

A controlled trial of educational outreach to improve blood transfusion practice

“…presenting both sides of controversies; (3) stimulating physician interaction to increase participation and define moti¬ vations for practice; (4) Observed differences between study and control groups were similar for teach¬ ing-and community-hospital surgeons (Fig 1), suggesting that the experimen¬ tal intervention was equally likely to al¬ ter practice patterns in both communityand teaching-hospital settings.…”

Principles of Educational Outreach ('Academic Detailing') to Improve Clinical Decision Making

“…Based on this behavioral science and several field trials, it is possible to define the theory and practice of methods to improve physicians' clinical decision making to enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of care. Some of the most important techniques of such "academic detailing" include (1) conducting interviews to investigate baseline knowledge and motivations for current prescribing patterns, (2) focusing programs on specific categories of physicians as well as on their opinion leaders, (3) defining clear educational and behavioral objectives, (4) establishing credibility through a respected organizational identity, referencing authoritative and unbiased sources of information, and presenting both sides of controversial issues, (5) stimulating active physician participation in educational interactions, (6) using concise graphic educational materials, (7) highlighting and repeating the essential messages, and (8) …”