Unfortunately, the standard of care in my speciality will not be met by and large with generics at this point in time, so patients are very grateful for samples. If I run out, I can have a rep in my office dropping off samples within an hour or two of my call. Samples provide the critical opportunity to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of medications prior to expending dollars on prescriptions.

Of course samples are not really “free”, the company has to pay for them from sales revenue, but they make a critical difference for some of my patients and are providing tremendous value to my indigent patients. My patients and I are grateful for the excellent service and samples.

Unfortunately you may be hurting your practice by not dispensing samples as other practioners may be perceived as providing better value. Also remember too that gasmen and gaswomen don’t have the same concerns with practice marketing as an internist or surgeon. I don’t know any anesthesiologist that dispenses samples!

What happens when those free samples run out? Pharma is counting on you writing a script for those meds thereafter which YOU may or may not do….but many docs will. Why use the newest ACE on a newly diagnosed hypertensive when HCTZ will do? Why use levoflox for a UTI is bactrim/keflex will do? ust because it is free? I am sure the ID docs will love that one. I have never understood why DTC advertising is allowed for prescription meds. The fact is medicine should be prescribed based on need and peer-reviewed evidence to support there use, not the latest pharma DTC marketing idiocy. Pharma spends more money on marketing than in research (which shoots holes in the “if our prices drop we can’t do the research argument”). Yes we live in a capitalist society, but the simple fact is 1/2 of all health care dollars comes from government entities. Gasman is right. I don’t take pharms reps food, pens, stick-ons, or other crap. It may not make me popular with my staff, but I sleep better at night.

Actually cold hard cash is the American way. I just wish they could take the average $35,000 a year spent on each doctor by drug companies to whore us and deposit the cash in our bank accounts. I’d much prefer that to stupid pens and squeezie toys. Let them pay us off like the scumbag lawyers.

Speak for yourself. Ask my patients if they are unhappy about the free samples. If you don’t have a good product, I won’t use it. If you have a good product and I use it, and you are glad I use it, please feel free to express your gratitude. That is the American way.

Is there any meaningful evidence to back up this physicain training strategy? Sure, it sounds good on paper, but will it work. Likely the few hours training will give a false sense of security to the newly minted grads, who will think themselves invincible to drug company tactics. Meanwhile, the drug companies will provide 100 hours of training to their reps for every hour the docs got in med school.

Best just to stay clear of the drug reps. Consorting with them cannot lead to good outcomes because their motives are always contrary to the doc’s and patient’s interest. The best you can hope for is a stalemate, and most of the time the outcome will be worse.