Do med students get badgered by pharmaceutal reps?

[Guest SherriONT]

My friend who is a med student told me that he and his classmates get inundated with offers and incentives from big pharmaceutical companies who are trying to push their drugs. He said that they offer them free lunches where the reps schmooze them up in order to advertise their medications. Has anyone heard of or experienced this?

 

I find this really troublesome! How do med students/doctors cope with the constant reminder that the well-being of their patients is actually determined by the business/marketing strategies of the big and powerful pharma companies?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hey there,

 

Some institutions have strict policies in place re: the ability of private industry to offer any sort of incentive to those who could be in a position of conflict of interest, e.g., doctors. Some universities restrict the ability of companies to even take doctors out for lunches, etc., which could be viewed as a mild incentive of sorts. Larger incentives, have included paying for the doctor (and their family) to attend conferences in luxurious spots.

 

Generally, though, the private companies are pretty smart. Although they might start courting medical students early with various types of smaller incentives, they often save the bigger pots of incentives for the folks who make the big purchasing decisions at the hospital. This includes the staff doctors, to whom they might promise new resources, e.g., the establishment of new imaging resources, etc., (which I've seen happen at one university).

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Lurkergonepublic]

I was under the impression (perhaps mistaken) that recent laws actually prohibited this type of drug company interaction with medical students. Maybe it was just certain schools. No sources to give, just something I thought I read somewhere... anyone?

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

I love drug lunches (and dinners)! Since I have the attention span of a gnat, I have a hard enough time remembering the brand names of the drugs, let alone which company makes what drug, so a lot of the hoopla falls on deaf ears.

I've never been approached personally by a drug company offering me free $hite, though. Maybe that will change as a resident, though!

 

Best of luck!

Timmy

[Guest satsumargirl]

Hasn't happened so far at Ottawa and I haven`t heard of anyone else talking about it either.

 

The other day a drug rep stopped by my preceptor's office to let him know a certain form of drug had been discontinued here in Canada. She came with pamphlets explaining to patients how to use the alternative form (for those who would have to switch). While there, there was discussion about arranging for a conference/talk. She actually offered to help fund it with no advertising or promos from the company. Apparently it is commonly done...and she even had names of reputable people to give unbiased talks with no brand name drug mention. I was actually quite surprised to hear this!

 

Sats

[Guest moo]

We had a drug lunch everyday while I was on 3rd year medicine and again during my cardiology/echo elective 4th year. Reps (usually beautiful women or occasionally really buff men) stop by usually at least once a week in the office. I've gotten enough pens and penlights to probably last me my whole career. The best was when we had a dinner at a really high class restaurant when I was on anesthesia... the speaker ironically was talking about giving anesthesia and working in the ICUs in India. Of course this was all in the US. I suspect my free lunches and pens will stop once I get back to Canada.

[Guest noncestvrai]

I dig free lunches, bring 'em on.

 

I actually actively seek them, may it be leftover from students' interviews or some drug company.

 

I'm a poor/starving medstudent working for free so...bleh.

 

noncestvrai