Intended for healthcare professionals

Career Focus

No free lunch

BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7457.s19-a (Published 10 July 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:s19
  1. Alison M Haddow, locum consultant in psychiatry

EDITOR—It was with much admiration for the author that I read the article about the rejection of drug company sponsorship in the workplace (or abroad).1 As medical students we are dazzled by the freebies available, and we look forward to qualification with great anticipation of better things to come. The onset is insidious, and before you know it you are on a foreign junket to a warmer clime, made all the sweeter by the fact that it is “free.” As the article points out, it is not entirely free and it comes at a different price. Leaving lunch aside, one has only to look around one's office to spot the plethora of simple items with drug logos imprinted. I like to think that these have no effect on my prescribing and would welcome an audit of doctors' prescribing habits to dispute or verify this. When colleagues refer to drugs they wish to prescribe but can't quite remember their name, and then recall the marketing image or catchphrase to aid their memory, I begin to wonder. If people are perhaps more aware of influences, they may be able to limit their effect. The jury is out.

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