Do drug samples influence resident prescribing behavior? A randomized trial

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pharmacology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Physician prescribing habits are influenced by various factors, including pharmaceutical marketing.
• Drug samples are a common marketing tool, but their impact on clinical decision-making, particularly among trainees, requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of access to free drug samples on internal medicine residents' prescribing decisions.
• To determine if drug sample availability influences the selection of advertised versus non-advertised, or expensive versus inexpensive, medications.

Main Methods:

• Prospective observational study involving 29 internal medicine residents over 6 months.
• Residents were randomized to either use or forgo free drug samples.
• Prescribing decisions for matched drug class pairs (advertised vs. non-advertised/less expensive) were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Residents with access to drug samples were significantly less likely to prescribe unadvertised drugs (P = .04).
• Access to samples also led to a decreased likelihood of choosing over-the-counter medications (P = .003).
• A trend indicated reduced selection of inexpensive drugs when samples were available.

Conclusions:

• Availability of drug samples in clinics demonstrably influences resident prescribing patterns.
• This influence may negatively impact resident education by promoting biased drug selection.
• Increased use of more expensive or advertised drugs due to sample access could lead to higher patient healthcare costs.