Prescription opioid misuse has become an epidemic in the U.S. resulting in serious adverse health consequences, morbidity and mortality. Deaths from prescription drugs, including opioids, have increased 2.8-fold from 2002-2015. Academic detailing(AD) communicates evidence-based medicine, helping clinicians make treatment decisions based on the current clinical research. Current debate related to prescription opioid use and misuse reflects a deficit regarding best-practices educating health care practitioners. The objective was to review the extant literature regarding AD to identify the characteristics of studies conducted, impact on patient outcomes and the most commonly used education strategy.

A total of 28 related articles were retrieved, and 10 met eligibility criteria. Articles were excluded if focusing on non-opioid treatments for pain. Of the eligible articles, two were randomized controlled trials, one was a narrative review, two were systematic reviews, and five were observational studies. The impact of AD varied between studies, but one article reported receipt of guideline concordant care, 10% opioid dose reduction, and opioid treatment discontinuation. Another reported increased naloxone prescription and a third article reported reduction in prescription errors (p<.05). All other articles were descriptive and lacked a statistical analysis. Face-to-face AD was identified to be the most commonly used outreach strategy as 7 primary research articles utilized this method.

A growing interest exists in the use of AD to address the opioid public health emergency. However, there is a lack of rigorous studies and assessment of patient outcomes. Future research is warranted to assess long-term outcomes of AD.