Sales Representatives Have A Tough Job Now

When I first started in private practice, sales reps, mostly pharmaceutical representatives, stopped by our office throughout the day. Sometimes I had to tell them I was too busy to hear about their company’s latest drug for some ailment, and most of the time the representative was respectful and polite about my request to come back another day. Several of my relatives were representatives of either pharmaceuticals or medical equipment, and they loved to try to one-up each others’ story of this rude doctor or that one, so I always try to be polite when one shows up in my office. They are just trying to make a living, after all! I always thought there should be a medical school class or CME course about how to have an effective and educational interaction with a representative that improved your skills and practice, and didn’t make your patients wait another 30 minutes.

These days I see far fewer representatives. The rules about giving samples and lunches and other perks to doctors have gotten much more stringent. Overall, I agree that there has to be rules and the changes have been good changes. Maybe I’m naive, but I’d like to think doctors don’t make decisions about medications or devices based on a nice dinner. But reading the literature, it’s pretty clear that I’ve been naive…

I believe that most representatives have something valuable to show me and perhaps teach me. I like the quick synopsis they present, and I read the articles they hand me, albeit with a skeptical eye. Doctors have a responsibility to filter any information presented to them to avoid commercial bias. That’s true whether reading a journal article, listening to a grand rounds lecture, or giving 5 minutes of your valuable time to the rep who bothered to drive an hour and then sit in your waiting room for another hour to have that 5 minutes with you. It’s the least we can do to be civil towards them. I do miss the scratch pads, however!