- According to experts, by receiving sponsorship from a pharmaceutical company, the doctor’s judgment will inevitably be influenced.
- Including the interests of the company and its shareholders in the balance of its decision. A conflict of interest appears.
- The doctor must seek and put the patient’s interest first (which is to preserve and recover health, with the least risk and the lowest possible cost).
The doctor should look for put the patient’s interest first (which is to preserve and recover health, with the lowest possible risk and cost), however, the sponsorship of pharmacies to the medical sector clouds this task.
Furthermore, as indicated by the doctorsandpatients receiving sponsorship from a pharmaceutical company, the doctor’s judgment will inevitably be influenced, including the interests of the company and its shareholders in the balance of its decision. A conflict of interest appears.
A conflict of interest, according to Dennis F. Thompson of Harvard University, is a set of conditions in which professional judgment about a primary interest (such as patient safety or research validity) tends to be improperly influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain).
Indeed, Lisa Cosgrove and Robert Whitaker, in their article “Finding solutions to institutional corruption” they verified how payments or gifts influenced the prescription, even though the doctor thought that this was not the case.
Is medical sponsorship a problem?
In three other studies, Morgan S. et al., Choudhry NK. et al., and Steinman L. et al., found that only a third of physicians believed that industry sponsorships changed their prescribing habitsHowever, they thought that most doctors were influenced. Along the same lines, Chimonas S. et al. found that most physicians thought it was okay to accept sponsorships because they would remain objective, even though others might be biased by those conflicts of interest.
That is, it is common for doctors to think that some can be influenced, but that he or she is not influenced. However, unconsciously, assume the narrative of the industry and that narrative influences their research, prescription, or counseling decisions.
The same thing happens with the Physicians attached to Pharmacies
More than two decades ago, the consultation model in pharmacywhich gained great popularity among patients. Not only for its accessibility in price, but also for its location and comfort.
However, a doctor went viral by confirming that indeed, at pharmacy doctors They are paid to sell and prescribe drugs from the pharmaceutical chain and NOT to prescribe the best treatments to treat the patient’s conditions.
Why is this scheme so popular?
The queries they start at 30 pesos and that is attractive to the majority of the population, the service is practically immediate and no need to stand in long lines or take out a token as occurs in the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE).
But while for patients it can be something beneficial that these types of places exist due to their proximity and price, for doctors it is not necessarily so.
The bad thing for pharmacy doctors…
Below are some adversities of working as a doctor in this field:
Specific prescription
In some cases, they receive economic incentives granted by the pharmacy. These are granted for the volume of consultations (by achieving a limit of daily consultations) and procedures performed. For the level of monthly sales achieved by the pharmacy or as a percentage of the prescribed drugs that the user buys at the pharmacy.
The amount paid may vary depending on the presentation and cost of the drug.
low wage
Their economic income variessince it is subject to the value of the consultation paid by the users, and does not have labor benefits such as medical service or
retirement savings plan.
“loan” contracts
In the loan, the medical staff is responsible for the care of the office and its accessories, with the rate and hours established by the pharmacy. There isn’t a employment relationshipgiven that the relationship with the pharmacy revolves around
around the transfer of the office.
no training
There is difficulty in accessing some type of training for update. The options offered by this type of clinics they are conferences about illnesses, sometimes online, that they perceive as more commercial than academic.
no personal wholeness
Most of these clinics does not meet job expectations and professionals, since it does not reward years of dedicated study.
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