Medical students have ample contact with drug salespeople and would like more training on how to handle these relationships, according to a review in the Australian Medical Student Journal. The paper analyzed 14 studies, including 10 conducted in North America, on medical students’ attitudes toward drug promotion and found most students surveyed felt “unprepared for their present and future interactions with the pharmaceutical industry.” They also felt accepting gifts was usually OK and wouldn’t influence how they prescribe drugs, though it might influence their colleagues.
From the study:
Students have considerable exposure to promotion, and they generally view receiving gifts as acceptable, but do regard some gifts as more appropriate than others. They tend to think PSR [pharmaceutical sales representative] presentations are biased but still of educational value and should not be banned. Most students do not believe promotion will affect their prescribing behaviours. A large majority of students want more education in their curricula on how to interact with PSRs.
Read an article about the study in Pharmalot.
