Free samples

Free to whom?

"Free samples" of prescription drugs given to physicians often end up in large trash bags to be sent to a third world free clinic.

The practice of "sampling" isn't all bad - some particularly lazy (or busy) doctors would never know about new agents if they weren't visited occasionally by the pharmaceutical reps.

We would like to think that physicians are better than that, and usually they are, relying on medical journals and training to determine their prescribing habits.

Click on the link at the bottom of this page to get the viewpoint of Roger Hughes, one of our Guest Contributors.

An interesting note:

Confirming what all of us thought we knew about blood pressure determinations, it turns out there really is a "white coat syndrome". According to a recent study, the most accurate readings are those made by patients themselves (while in the clinic), and the next most accurate are done by a nurse. The booby prize? It goes to the doctor, whose measurements of blood pressure are most often inaccurate (as compared with continuous ambulatory monitoring).