Doctors under the influence

From Zoe Stewart in MJAInsight,  Monday, 25 August, 2014
A recent research article found that medical students and junior doctors exposed to information from pharmaceutical companies were more likely to refer to drugs using their brand names.
The authors used a survey to show that for each 10% increase in exposure to pharmaceutical promotion there was an associated 15% lower adherence to published prescribing guidelines.
While doctors often seem to think they are immune to pharmaceutical industry marketing, the reality is that none of us are. The influence of marketing on prescribing habits is well established, but it is not the only influence. Read more here