My year without drug reps

Working as I do in England, I am not surprised to hear that Dr
O'Hanlon has survived 12 months without seeing a drug rep - around 50% of
doctors in England manage the same thing. What I find rather more
concerning is that he has reached the level of specialist registrar before
realising that he needs to research his own prescribing choices! In the
course of my career I have had jobs within NHS hospitals, as a general
practitioner, as a health authority prescribing advisor and most recently
within the pharmaceutical sector. In each role, I have found that
prescribing decisions have to be made within the context of a vested
interest, the only difference being which direction that interest is
pushing the prescriber.

As a professional, especially one with direct responsibility for
patient care, the only rational approach is to research your own
prescribing choices. If you feel that the only way you can trust yourself
to achieve that is by hiding in a corner with your own sandwiches, then
carry on. Personally, I'm not convinced that a plate of curry and a pen
with a drug name on is sufficient to corrupt my intellectual abilities,
but maybe I'm deluding myself. Each of us must make our own decision.

Competing interests:
I own a consultancy that carries out research and health economic analyses for the pharmaceutical industry