The influence of various inducement offered by pharmaceutical companies on the prescription behavior of general medical practitioners of South Punjab.

Abstract

Objective: General medical practitioners (GMPs) were surveyed to describe their opinion regarding the visits of medical representatives (MRs) and the offers of pharmaceutical companies. Study Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Department of Behavioral Sciences, CMH Multan Institute of Medical Sciences, Multan. Period: July 2024 to December 2024. Methods: A study was conducted on the sample of 154 GMPs working in different private clinical settings of South Punjab. The questionnaire evaluated the impact of 16 different types of inducements offered by the MRs on the prescription behavior (PB) of GMPs. Results: Out of 154 physicians, 66.23% and 61.69% feel that they may change their prescription of the medicine by “dropping the literature” and “dropping the drug samples” by the MRs, respectively. Other inducements significantly affecting PB were sponsorship for local conferences and seminars (59.1%), organization of medical camps (57.1%), personal liaison with MRs (55.8%), subscription of journals (54.5%), and small gifts like pens and pads (53.2%). Generally, there was no significant relationship between the effect of inducements on the PB of GMPs and their personal characteristics. Conclusion: There was an overall tendency of enjoying the inducement by GMPs. The most effective activities to affect PB were providing the drug literature and physician’s samples.