Minn. health system purges drug trinkets - Yahoo! News
Minn. health system purges drug trinkets - Yahoo! News
“I’ve never seen nor heard of a systematic roundup of pens and coffee mugs before,” Johnson said. “It’s a bit draconian. But the onus is on us now to do a better job of explaining the job and the importance of marketing representatives. Unfortunately there are a lot of cynics in America who want to think the worst.”
You can count me as one of those cynics. I feel like I am at a sporting event when I go into a doctor’s office. I once even invented a game called Doctor Office Bingo, whereby you got to cover spots on a grid depending on what marketing junk you saw at the office. The coup d’etat was, of course, if a marketing rep came in while you were waiting to see the doctor!
Hey, I am not trying to prevent these guys from making a living, but how can you tell me that a company has the right to advertise for things that I can’t even buy without someone else’s permission? Their mere presence puts us patients in a position of mistrust of our Dr. because we no longer know whose interest they are looking out for, is it mine or their paid junkets? Mistrust of your doctor is the last thing our health care system needs.
Finally, we as patients aren’t without fault here, either. We need to tell doctors enough is enough, but we also need to stop asking for prescriptions just because we saw some stupid ad with vague descriptions of problems that can cover a whole lot of diseases. Furthermore, we need to start taking the time to find doctors who we feel comfortable with and who takes the time to listen to what is going on. Believe me, they are out there, despite what you hear in the press. But you have to shop around, just like you would when finding someone to build a house or buying a flat screen. Don’t just “buy” the first one you find.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
It’s true - mistrust of your doctor is the last thing our health care system needs. Thats why your doctor has to do as much as he or she can to EARN your trust. A doctor - patient relationship is no different than any other type of relationship - trust has to be earned.