Attitudes of general practitioners in New Zealand to pharmaceutical representatives.

BACKGROUND Pharmaceutical representatives are a vital component of the marketing of pharmaceutical products and an important source of prescribing information for general practitioners. AIM A study was undertaken to explore the attitudes of New Zealand general practitioners to pharmaceutical representatives. METHOD A questionnaire survey of 100 general practitioners was undertaken to which 67 general practitioners responded. RESULTS The provision of practical prescribing advice by representatives and gifts relevant to medicine were seen as desirable activities by many respondents. However, gifts of value considerably greater than suggested acceptable in recent guidelines for general practitioners were also highly favoured by some practitioners. CONCLUSION Current ethical guidelines setting out the relationship between pharmaceutical representatives and medical practitioners are inadequate and should be based on the need for the general practitioner to become an unbiased promoter of patient health.