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. 2013 Apr 3;34(5):231–247. [Article in Spanish] doi: 10.1016/S0212-6567(04)70840-9

Análisis de la relación entre el médico de atención primaria y la industria farmacéutica

Analysis of the relationship between primary care doctors and the pharmaceutical industry

S Galán Herrera a,*, MT Delgado Marroquín b, R Altisent Trota c
PMCID: PMC7669049  PMID: 15456570

Abstract

Objectives

To describe the type of relationship between primary care family doctors (PCDs) and the pharmaceutical industry (PI) and its representatives in Aragon, to describe doctors' attitudes to this relationship and to find out how doctors behave towards offers from the industry

Design

Descriptive cross-sectional study, through a self-filled questionnaire with closed replies, of a representative sample of the population under study

Setting And Participants

Family doctors working in primary care teams throughout Aragon

Results

The reply rate of 28.17% maintained the study's representativity. Differences in the kind of relationship between PCDs and PI were found in gender (greater relationship of male doctors) and setting (it was greater in urban areas). Doctors working in centres with teaching credentials and woman doctors had a more critical attitude. The tendency to collaborate with the industry's offers was greater in the rural areas and among men. The group of doctors that interacted most with the industry tended to collaborate more with the proposals of the PI. No relationship was found between attitude and conduct of PCDs

Conclusions

Results confirm both the starting hypotheses: a) the nature of relationships between PCDs and the PI and its representatives affects prescribing behaviour, and b) there are differences between what doctors think they should do and what they really do in their dealings with the PI

Keywords: Ethics, Pharmaceutical industry, Primary Care doctor

Esta investigación ha recibido financiación del Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo (expediente FIS n.° P1021087)

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