BMJ  2003;326 (31 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7400.0-b

Drug representatives may increase unnecessary GP prescribing

General practitioners who see drug companies' representatives at least once a week are more likely to express views that lead to unnecessary prescribing. In a questionnaire survey of the attitudes and behaviours of general practitioners throughout England in relation to their prescribing rates, Watkins and colleagues found that practitioners with the greatest contact with drug representatives were most willing to prescribe new drugs and to comply with patients' requests for drugs that are not clinically indicated (p 1178). The doctors who saw drug representatives most frequently tended to be singlehanded practitioners, did not provide postgraduate training, and worked in deprived areas.

CSA PLASTOCK/PHOTONICA

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