Introduction to pharmaceuticology

Medical students learn much about the art of medicine in their clinical years, honing diagnostic and therapeutic skills. What you may not realise is the added, non-credit course that you take in the middle of your rotations-introduction to pharmaceuticology. Differing from pharmacology, the study of therapeutic agents and their effects on the body, pharmaceuticology involves the interaction between doctors and the industry that manufactures and promotes these agents. Medical schools do not prepare their students for the onslaught of drug company salespeople and advertisements that immediately vie for our loyalty. Gone are the days of the preclinical years, when drugs were known by their hard to pronounce generic names and complicated mechanism of action. Now the medical student is expected to speak in the language of brand names, pill colours, and catchy drug slogans.

Introduction to pharmaceuticology is a reality of our clinical training, and confronts us with the larger question: what relationship should doctors have with drug companies? I find that many of us, busy learning the practice of medicine, never attempt to answer this question and, by default, conform to the norms of older doctors and the current environment, which caters to the wishes of the drug industry.

In the first weeks of my third year of medical school, which for medical students in the United States marks the transition from classroom to caring for patients, I realised that I could not simply conform to the status quo on such a critical issue. Therefore, I made a simple decision: I would not take any free food, pens, or other drug company propaganda until I had wrestled with the ethical and practical concerns pertaining to my interactions with the drug industry.

I hope that in sharing what …