Getting 'Em Early: Pharma Reps Give Gifts To Most Medical Students
Pharmaceutical companies start talking with doctors early in their careers Photo by Erich Ferdinand, CC BY 2.0Think of the children! Or at least the medical students-and their future patients. In spite of medical schools' efforts to shield budding doctors from the dark forces of the medical-industrial complex, more than half of medical students end up receiving gifts from pharmaceutical representatives by the end of their fourth year, according to an upcoming study. The study's lead scientist, a physician and researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston named Aaron Kesselheim, explained the problem for the hospital: In medical school and residency, as trainees are learning the fundamentals of their profession, there is a need to ensure the education they receive is as unbiased as possible," said Dr. Kesselheim. "However, it is well known that promotional information and gifts from pharmaceutical companies can encourage non-evidence-based prescribing.* Though many institutions have tried...