Group fights drug promos
Students lobby for new protocols
By: Mary Ayers
Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: University
Most doctors' offices are full of drug company advertisements.
Whether their names are plastered on the clock in the waiting room, on the pen borrowed from the front desk or on a coffee cup in a nurse's hand, drug company paraphernalia is everywhere.
PharmFree, an organization of the American Medical Student Association, is working to eliminate those drug names from doctors' offices. The group has chapters across the nation, including one at UNC.
Members hope that by getting rid of the names, they will end the influences pharmaceutical companies can have on doctors.
"I want to help restore the sanctity of patient relationships by getting conflicts of interests out of medicine," said Anthony Fleg, the national coordinator for PharmFree and a fourth-year medical student at UNC.
Receiving gifts from pharmaceutical companies, Fleg said, might influence how doctors prescribe medication, creating conflicts in trust between doctors and patients.
"No matter how big it is, you are more likely to feel that you have to repay that person," Fleg said.
The UNC chapter of PharmFree has urged the School of Medicine to join dozens of other medical schools in creating a protocol for how to handle drug companies.
In 2004, none of the about 140 medical schools in the United States had a policy dealing with pharmaceutical company relationships. Now about 40 schools have or are in the process of creating one, Fleg said, and UNC's School of Medicine is one of the institutions now drafting a policy.
"Our job as doctors is to do the best for our patients, and if we are being influenced by subfactors, we should try to remove those subfactors," said, Etta Pisano, vice dean of academic affairs for the School of Medicine and part of the committee working on the policy.
The policy should be completed within a few months, Pisano said.
Part of the PharmFree goal is to have medical students sign a pledge now, in an effort to change the next generation of doctors' behaviors.
Whether their names are plastered on the clock in the waiting room, on the pen borrowed from the front desk or on a coffee cup in a nurse's hand, drug company paraphernalia is everywhere.
PharmFree, an organization of the American Medical Student Association, is working to eliminate those drug names from doctors' offices. The group has chapters across the nation, including one at UNC.
Members hope that by getting rid of the names, they will end the influences pharmaceutical companies can have on doctors.
"I want to help restore the sanctity of patient relationships by getting conflicts of interests out of medicine," said Anthony Fleg, the national coordinator for PharmFree and a fourth-year medical student at UNC.
Receiving gifts from pharmaceutical companies, Fleg said, might influence how doctors prescribe medication, creating conflicts in trust between doctors and patients.
"No matter how big it is, you are more likely to feel that you have to repay that person," Fleg said.
The UNC chapter of PharmFree has urged the School of Medicine to join dozens of other medical schools in creating a protocol for how to handle drug companies.
In 2004, none of the about 140 medical schools in the United States had a policy dealing with pharmaceutical company relationships. Now about 40 schools have or are in the process of creating one, Fleg said, and UNC's School of Medicine is one of the institutions now drafting a policy.
"Our job as doctors is to do the best for our patients, and if we are being influenced by subfactors, we should try to remove those subfactors," said, Etta Pisano, vice dean of academic affairs for the School of Medicine and part of the committee working on the policy.
The policy should be completed within a few months, Pisano said.
Part of the PharmFree goal is to have medical students sign a pledge now, in an effort to change the next generation of doctors' behaviors.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
JM
posted 3/24/08 @ 9:11 AM EST
I was an an undergraduate at UNC and am currently in medical school at an institution that has already implemented this PharmFree concept. I will also disclose that I worked for a large pharmaceutical company and have the intention of going back upon completing residency and fellowship. (Continued…)
Scott
Scott
posted 3/24/08 @ 7:22 PM EST
I agree with JM. The general public is gross mis-informed about the pharmaceutical industry. Most people think the government(NIH, etc) discovers most of the drugs they use when in reality private industry, the pharmaceutical companies, discover 96% of all drugs. (Continued…)
Brian
posted 5/05/08 @ 8:43 PM EST
PharmFree isn't saying that pharmaceuticals are a bad part of medicine, or that the companies who make them are inherently bad. No one ever said that they didn't give something to society, or that they didn't give back to the world in some way. (Continued…)
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