BusinessWeek this week has an article, "Just Say No To Drug Reps" about the growing number of schools that train doctors to resist pharmaceutical pitches from well-trained, slick sales people. Schools with such programs include Georgetown and Mt. Sinai.
According to the article, research shows that "A doctor who spends just one minute with a sales rep typically ends up prescribing 16% more of that rep’s product than he or she was prescribing before. And a four-minute encounter is likely to prompt a 52% jump in prescriptions."
Using proceeds from a legal settlement, medical schools have $21 million in grant money to teach students how to handle the sales pitches as well as patients who ask for specific prescriptions based on ads they have seen in the media.
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