Comparative effectiveness research evaluates the relative
effectiveness, safety, and value of competing treatment options in
clinically realistic settings. Such evaluations can be methodologically
complex and difficult to interpret. There will be a growing need for
critical evaluation of comparative effectiveness studies to assess the
adequacy of their design and to put new information into a broader
context. Equally important, this knowledge will have to be communicated
to clinicians in a way that will actually change practice. We identify three
challenges to effective dissemination of comparative effectiveness research
findings: the difficulty of interpreting comparative effectiveness research
data, the need for trusted sources of information, and the challenge of
turning research results into clinical action. We suggest that academic
detailing—direct outreach education that gives clinicians an accurate and
unbiased synthesis of the best evidence for practice in a given clinical
area—can translate comparative effectiveness research findings into
actions that improve health care decision making and patient outcomes