Wall L Lewis, Brown Douglas
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
Obstet Gynecol. 2007 Jul;110(1):169-73. doi: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000268800.46677.14.
Most physicians deny their professional integrity can be "bought" by something as trivial as a cup of coffee or a free lunch. In this paper, we review the social science literature arguing that "gifting" physicians in this way is, in fact, a highly successful method of boosting drug sales. Unlike ordinary consumer goods, the sale of prescription drugs does not take place directly between the producer and the consumer; rather, prescription drug sales are mediated by the physician who writes the script for the medication. Pharmaceutical sales practices are geared toward influencing physician drug recognition so that, when prescriptions are written, their drug is the first one that comes to mind. Even small gifts produce in their recipients a disproportionately powerful willingness to reciprocate in some manner. The simple act of providing food has been shown to make any message more palatable and more likely to be favorably received. We argue that physician prescribing habits should be based upon careful consideration of what medication is really in the patient's best clinical interests, not on who most recently provided the doctor with a free lunch.
大多数医生否认他们的职业操守会被一杯咖啡或一顿免费午餐这样微不足道的东西“收买”。在本文中，我们回顾了社会科学文献，这些文献认为，以这种方式“馈赠”医生实际上是提高药品销量的一种非常成功的方法。与普通消费品不同，处方药的销售并非直接在生产商和消费者之间进行；相反，处方药的销售是由为药物开处方的医生促成的。药品销售行为旨在影响医生对药物的认知，以便在开处方时，他们的药物是医生首先想到的。即使是小礼物也会让接受者产生一种强烈的、不成比例的以某种方式回报的意愿。提供食物这一简单行为已被证明能使任何信息更易接受且更有可能被欣然接受。我们认为，医生的处方习惯应该基于对哪种药物真正符合患者最佳临床利益的仔细考虑，而不是基于谁最近给医生提供了免费午餐。
