There has been a change in the way top medical professors have seen the constant attention paid to doctors by drug reps. The drug companies presents, free seminars and free continuing education classes have been attracting attention for some time and doctors have been warned not to take expensive gifts.
But now, according to an article in Associated Press, by DAVID B. CARUSO, Nov 2, 2006, some medical schools are teaching doctors-in-training how to ask tough questions during the slick sales presentations. Especially when a new drug is being pushed and the companies pull out all the stops to persuade doctors to use it – often instead of an older, less expensive, version that is just as good.
Stanford University in September joined a short list of institutions that have banned doctors from accepting gifts from drug industry sales reps. Others include Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania.
At Mount Sinai School of Medicine they have classes that role play how to respond to drug reps and also how to respond to patients who demand the new drugs they have seen on TV. Many doctors waste valuable time explaining why the TV drug ads don’t apply to everyone and not everyone will benefit in the ways claimed.
Unfortunately many medical school programs still believe that the gifts doctors get from drug company reps are harmless, although many studies have shown that they do affect prescription rates. Also many professors are still being paid by the drug companies in various capacities, as speakers or experts so they are loathe to bite the hand that feeds them.
One of the answers would be to turn off the tv or to turn a deaf ear to any drug ads you hear. Read some of Dr Bruce Lipton’s books and find out how 95% of our sicknesses are caused by internal stress that can be prevented. Turn to the new information about health and turn away from allopathic medicine. It has it’s place in certain circumstances but it is based on old outdated knowledge. It’s time to learn about the new breakthroughs in quantum physics and field theory that can help to heal us from the inside out.
Pam