Here’s why our academic detailing service is valuable to Ontario’s family physicians

Family physicians need access to accurate, current information on the effectiveness, safety and practical considerations of treatment options. This information is however time-consuming to stay on top of, given the amount of clinical research published today.

It is this need among physicians that inspired our team to bring academic detailing to Ontario. Academic detailing services are offered provincially in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia, and more widely across the United States and Australia, to support family physicians as they stay up-to-date with the latest clinical evidence through regular individualized educational visits. By leveraging the expertise and experience from these mature services, we have built our primary care academic detailing service for Ontario.

Our service now equips family physicians from across eight Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) including Erie St. Clair, South West, Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant, Mississauga Halton, Toronto Central, North West, Waterloo Wellington and North East, with an academic detailer who serves as an ongoing resource to the physician, offering discussions on the latest balanced, evidence-based information and clinical pearls on a variety of difficult primary care topics. Our academic detailers tailor these discussions to each physician’s interests, questions and patient population, and deliver them in a one-on-one format, at a time and place that’s best for the physician.

This tailored approach to continuing medical education (CME) is what makes our service stand apart from other forms of CME for family physicians in Ontario. Physicians have expressed to us their appreciation for this one-on-one delivery of Mainpro+ accredited education and stated that: “The one-on-one ratio of detailer to physicians is unique in medical education. It allows for more open and honest discussions and provides a safe environment for the detailer and physician to ask each other questions and challenge each other’s thinking on issues that aren’t often well represented in literature.”

We are thrilled family physicians value this service, and truly look forward to continuing to build and grow trusting professional relationships between family physicians and academic detailers who can support the uptake of the latest clinical evidence in primary care.