Academic detailing is personalized to your own practice and learning goals. My detailer and I focused on the specific patient population that I work with and my current familiarity and knowledge on the topic. The conversation was completely individualized to my learning opportunities and workplace.
We discussed the current practices in the home regarding antipsychotic use. This included everything from the tools staff use to track behaviors, current prescribing practices, and the key stakeholders at the home that could influence change. We then focused on my current background on the topic; my experience assessing antipsychotic use, comfort with talking with nurses and physicians about the topic and knowledge of antipsychotics themselves. This allowed our conversation to focus on specific key points and skills that would be useful to influence practice change in the home.
Discussions at the provider level ensure that the individual circumstances of the practice setting are taken into consideration. The prescribing and nursing practices as well as the patient population all influence the approach we take on practice improvements. Recommendations from the policy level are too broad and inflexible to be practically applied to all settings.
The first topic we covered was antipsychotics and now the use of these medications has declined in the home. Nursing staff are also more aware of alternative techniques to adjust behaviors and the importance of behavior monitoring. The academic detailer met with several professionals at the home which really enhanced our ability to collaborate on a single goal.
– Erika Hatherly, long-term care consulting pharmacist