Is Your Clinician Prescribing Under the Influence?

Here's a fun way for your favorite clinician to learn how drug companies try to influence them -- and earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits at the same time. The Pharmalyzer CME course offers open-minded clinicians a chance to see themselves through the eyes of Big Pharma, specifically Big Pharma's salespeople. It uses drug companies’ own words, gathered from marketing journals, training manuals, and testimony of former drug sales reps. Once physicians see themselves as they're viewed by drug companies, they're better able to resist sales pitches and turn to unbiased sources of information about prescription drugs. The Pharmalyzer was developed by Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman and her colleagues at PharmedOut, an independent project run by physicians for physicians and other prescribers. PharmedOut disseminates information about how pharmaceutical companies influence prescribing, provides access to unbiased information about drugs, and encourages physicians to choose pharma-free CME. The Pharmalyzer CME course is a great example of how education can be fun, too. And it's free! Check it out at www.pharmedout.org and recommend it to your favorite prescriber.

Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D., is an associate professor in the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Dept. of Physiology, and a former chair of the NWHN. Alicia Bell is the Pharmed Out project manager and a current NWHN board member. They’re pictured here celebrating the NWHN’s new office space at the recent Open House.