Letter

So much time for so little: Italy's pharmaceutical industry and doctors' information needs

BMJ 2000; 320 doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7226.55 (Published 1 January 2000)
Cite this as: BMJ 2000;320:55

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  1. Emilio Maestri, general practitioner,
  2. Gilberto Furlani, general practitioner,
  3. Fabio Suzzi, general practitioner,
  4. Annalisa Campomori, pharmacist,
  5. Giulio Formoso, epidemiologist,
  6. Nicola Magrini, head (n.magrini@ausl.mo.it)
  1. Guastalla, Reggio Emilia, Italy
  2. Imola, Bologna, Italy
  3. Unit of Drug Evaluation and Evidence-Based Primary Care, Centro per la Valutazione della Efficacia della Assistenza Sanitaria (CeVEAS), 41100 Modena, Italy

    EDITOR—Two local experiences in northern Italy may be relevant to the discussion following the recent editorial by Griffith on doctors' reasons for not seeing drug representatives.1

    In 1992, eight general practitioners from Guastallae evaluated the amount of time spent with pharmaceutical representatives. On average, each doctor had 435 visits per year from 102 different companies and spent a total of 58 hours every year talking to pharmaceutical representatives. To reduce this time, four doctors allowed up to two visits per day, and …

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