Collaboration between a drug information center and an academic detailing program

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Health Services Research
• Medical Education

Background:

• Academic detailing programs aim to improve prescribing practices through evidence-based education.
• Drug Information Centers (DICs) are crucial resources for managing medication-related information.
• Effective collaboration between these entities can optimize drug information dissemination and utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the collaboration between the South Carolina Offering Prescribing Excellence (SCORxE) academic detailing program and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Drug Information Center (DIC).
• To analyze the impact of this collaboration on the types and characteristics of drug information (DI) requests received by the MUSC DIC.

Main Methods:

• An agreement was established for the MUSC DIC to respond to DI questions from SCORxE academic detailing pharmacists.
• DI questions received by the MUSC DIC from May 2009 to October 2012 were analyzed.
• Analysis focused on comparing characteristics of SCORxE-generated questions with those from other sources, including question type and deadline.

Main Results:

• Out of 2727 DI questions, 62 (2.3%) originated from the SCORxE program.
• SCORxE questions were more frequently therapeutic consultations, reference searches, or dosage queries, and less often formulation or drug interaction inquiries.
• Academic detailing requests allowed significantly longer median deadlines (27.1 hours vs. 21.2 days). Learners (students/residents) handled the majority (68%) of SCORxE questions, with benefits including educational opportunities, funding, and scholarship for the DIC, and enhanced information access and efficiency for SCORxE.

Conclusions:

• The collaboration between the SCORxE academic detailing program and the MUSC DIC was mutually beneficial.
• The established process for question communication was simple and effective.
• Academic detailing questions required more in-depth research compared to other DI requests.