Call for education to counter drug promotion
Four drug promotion-related educational objectives
All health professionals should learn:
· How to evaluate evidence and make decisions
· That there is no proven way of getting more benefit than harm
from drug promotion
· To avoid pharmaceutical and device promotion
· About the most reliable information sources |
US campaigners against drug advertising have published four objectives (see Panel) that they say should be built into the education of all health professionals.
The objectives — developed by representatives of the American
Medical Student Association, Healthy
Skepticism, No Free Lunch and the UK-based
PharmAware project — are set out in a paper published
online by the US Public Library of Science. The authors say that they should be
pursued throughout all health professionals’ careers, starting
in the first year of training and continuing in every subsequent year,
including annual continuing professional development.
The authors accept that their recommendations challenge deeply held beliefs
and that this will make them difficult to implement. However, they assert
that the promotion of medicines and medical devices causes more harm
than is generally realised, adding that their recommendations are necessary,
but not sufficient, for removing the adverse influence of promotion on
health professionals.
They say: “Improved regulation and redesigned incentive systems
are also needed.
… Our hypothesis — that implementing our recommendations will
lead to improved health-care outcomes and earn increased public trust
in the ability of health professionals to provide optimal treatment — deserves
to be tested.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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