Yesterday, we got 'attacked' by about 5 or 6 different Medical Indemnity Insurance companies, advertising to us and welcoming us to the profession (are they even in the profession, to be welcoming us? Who knows). What did they want? They wanted us to register with them for free as students, so we can learn about their company, and perhaps when we graduate and they no longer offer free services, to spend a small fortune on their company.
I counted 8 free pens, 4 cloth bags, 1 highlighter, 1 ruler, 1 case study CD, 2 drink bottles, countless lollies, note pads, lanyards, and ID clips. There were also draws for stethoscopes and textbooks. All this for a bunch of Med students who are on the third day of their career.
While I did enjoy this bombardment of smiling reps and free stuff, it did get me thinking. Suppose these were pharmaceutical companies. Suppose they gave their stuff to us so we would recommend their drugs to our patients. Suppose they gave it to our educators, so that they would teach us to use their drugs.
I know there is a big contention about this, and the issue is an interesting one. Firstly, everyone gets free stuff all the time, but marketing is everywhere and we develope a degree of immunity to it. The only time that I use fabric softener is when I recieve it free in the mail. Just because I have a free pen from company x it doesn't mean I will nessecarily use their products. But it does mean that I know this company and it will come to mind, and if their products are competitive then I will use them. I believe that this is not just me alone, but most of us have some degree of immunity to marketing.
Recieving free pens from companies does not constitute a bribe as such. They can not possibly hope to persuade us to use their products or services just on the basis of a pen or note pad.
I once read an article from a GP somewhere in the states (or somewhere else, can't remember). He works in a tiny practice that really has no money for expensive software and equipment, and he uses a prescribing software that comes at a low cost from pharmaceutical companies, but it is loaded with ads, and is programmed to make choosing certain brands easier. He says that it's not that he supports these companies, but an alternative software has been made unaffordable.
On the other side of the issue, some research does show that free merchandise alters doctors' judgements. I would suggest that it is because the doctors are more aware of the company that they choose it, rather than because they got the free pen. But as long as it is affecting their judgement, that is bad. Doctors should ideally research and know the best and cheapest drug for their patients, but inevitably there will be ones who don't, and will use ones that they are familiar with (ie the company name that is also written on their notepad). It would annoy me if I found out that my doctors' judgements were affected, however subtly, by a company, and similarly I would be annoyed if my educator's judgements were affected.
I'm at the end of what I want to say, and I still havn't come up with a conclusion. It's an interesting issue that I will follow and contemplate during the rest of my education and career. But I rest easy, for today at least, in that I only accepted free stuff from insurance companies and not pharmaceutical companies.
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Welcome to the world of commerce and money making Sida. Unfortunately today it is not that much about helping people anymore but about business. Pharmaceutical companies are today spending millions of $$$ on marketing of products that most people may not even need rather than helping the poor in third world countries that really need it.
Public Relations and the Pharmaceutical Industry
Title: “Disease Mongering”
By: Bob Burton and Andy Rowell
Source: PR Watch, First Quarter 2003
Researched by Erin Cossen
The pharmaceutical industry spends twice as much on public relations, marketing, and administration as it does on drug research and development. During 2000 more than $13.2 billion was spent on pharmaceutical marketing in the U.S.
…. pharmaceutical industry groups are responsible for persuading doctors and patients to use the drug companies’ products. Patient groups are wooed to assist with “disease awareness campaigns.”
The same is happening in any other sector of our lives, like food production for an example. Just about 2 month ago I had the chance to watch DVD called The Future of Food that I recommend everyone to see.
It makes you really think where we are heading as a society.
Marketing of new drugs can be sometimes like this: Motivational deficiency disorder
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