Nurse practitioners get free meals from pharma, too

“Nurse practitioners have been “operating ‘under the radar’ regarding research and policy on the influences of pharmaceutical marketing,” write researchers from Boston’s MGH Institute of Health Professions and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. According to their survey, NPs interact plenty with pharma companies, and don’t seem troubled by the relationship. Whether you feel the same depends on your view of pharma industry freebies: a subtle influencer of behavior or too inconsequential to sway prescribing decisions?

The researchers surveyed 263 members of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (9% of their initial randomly selected sample of 3,000 members ended up participating) on their prescribing practices and interactions with industry, perceived reliability of information from the pharma industry and ethics of accepting gifts and meals.