>>>In a senior community such as mine, many topics of conversation (sigh) are health related.
>>>A pet peeve among the residents is having to wait in the office of an MD while the MD talks to a Pharma rep.
>>>How many times does an MD have to hear about the wonders of Viagra??????????????
>>>If it looks like a rubber duck.. well.. you know what I mean.
>>
>>I'm not a big fan of big pharma (though I think some of the meds available to us today are nothing short of miracles), but doctors are incredibly busy and pretty much anytime I'm in a doctor's actual office (that is, the desk, not the exam room), there's a large stack of unread journals on the desk. I think an honest drug rep (and yes, they aren't all honest) who comes in and teaches a doc what her company's drugs do and where they're indicated can take some burden off.
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>>When I was first working with my neurologist on my migraines, he said clearly that different triptans work better for different people and sent me home with a pile of samples with instructions on how to try them. When I figured out my best bet, I was to call and he'd prescribe. Today, because of the new rules, he can't do that; he doesn't have the samples to do it with. Who's served well by that?
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>>Also, full disclosure: my SIL has worked on the marketing side of pharma for her adult life, including a couple of years as a drug rep.
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>>Tamar
>
>Well, here we a big Pharma company being fined for making kickbacks
>They were making kickbacks to MD's .. the same MD's who are talking to their reps while I'm reading Motor Trend (who picks these crazy things that MD's have in their offices? Do people on Medicare really care how many cubic inches are in the engine of a car that costs $250K?. I often wonder if the MD's are getting kickbacks from Motor Trend for putting the mags there)

I'm not saying the Pharma doesn't do some illegal, immoral and just questionable things. All I was saying is that drug reps (or, as they used to be known, "detail men") can have some positive impact on patient care.''

Tamar