Abstract
Objetivo
Conocer la opinión de los miembros de la Sociedad Catalana de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria sobre la aceptación de ofertas de la industria farmacéutica y su influencia en la prescripción
Diseño
Estudio transversal. Metodología triangular, cuantitativa-cualitativa
Emplazamiento
Cataluña, junio 2002
Participantes
Médicos de familia, miembros de la Sociedad Catalana, de los que se disponía de dirección electrónica
Mediciones principales
Cuestionario estandarizado. Análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de los datos
Resultados
Las ofertas que un porcentaje más elevado de encuestados considera ético aceptar son el material publicitario (82,5%), las muestras gratuitas (78,1%) y el pago de actividades formativas (74,3%). Es considerada menos ética la aceptación de compensación económica directa (2,2%), la invitación a un viaje (20,6%) y a una cena (40,1%). Más del 50% considera que aceptar estas ofertas no influye en la prescripción y sólo un 38,3% cree que la compensación económica por prescribir un determinado medicamento sí influye. Se consideran aceptables las ofertas de la industria que benefician a la profesionalidad, al centro y a los pacientes, pero no las que representan un beneficio puramente personal. Aceptan la participación de la industria en la formación, aunque les gustaría que las cosas fueran diferentes. Algunos señalan estrategias para evitar la influencia de las ofertas en la prescripción
Conclusiones
El porcentaje de encuestados que considera que los regalos de la industria influyen en la prescripción es bajo, aunque la evidencia demuestra lo contrario. Llama la atención que algunos profesionales consideran éticas formas de relación de dudosa legalidad. La necesidad de abrir un debate sobre el tema es una demanda de los informantes
Palabras clave: Diseño cualitativo, Ética, Regalos, Industria farmacéutica
Abstract
Objective
To document the opinion of members of the Catalonian Society of Family and Community Medicine regarding the acceptance of gifts and other arrangements from the drug industry, and their influence on prescribing
Design
Cross-sectional study with triangulation involving quantitative and qualitative methods
Setting
Catalonia (northeastern Spain), June 2002
Participants
Family physicians who were members of the Society and who had a known e-mail address
Main measures
Standarized questionnaire. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
Results
The types of gifts and other arrangements that were considered ethically acceptable by the largest percentage of respondents were publicity items (82.5%), free samples (78.1%), and financial support for training activities (74.3%). Accepting direct economic compensation (2.2%), coverage of travel expenses (20.6%) or a free dinner (40.1%) was considered less ethical. More than 50% of the participants felt that accepting these arrangements did not influence their prescribing practices, and only 38.3% felt that economic compensation for prescribing a given medication did influence these practices. Arrangements by industry representatives that benefited professionalism, the center or the patients, but that did not represent any purely personal benefit, were considered acceptable. Participation by the industry in training events was accepted, although participants would prefer less industry involvement. Some participants described strategies to prevent gifts and other arrangements from influencing prescribing practices
Conclusions
The percentage of members surveyed who considered that gifts from industry influenced prescribing was low, despite evidence to the contrary. A finding of note was that some professionals considered ethical certain types of relationships of questionable legality. Informants noted the need to initiate debate on this topic
Key words: Qualitative design, Ethics, Gift, Pharmaceutical industry
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