Reader TTS

Pharmaceutical companies are deliberately targeting nurses amid fears this could unduly influence prescribing and treatment, suggests new research. A study by the University of Sydney found

Australian nurses attended thousands of industry-sponsored events over four years. > “They would not continue to invest in these activities unless they > resulted in favourable 

financial outcomes” >  > Elissa Ladd and Alex Hoyt Researchers analysed reports from trade association Medicines Australia on sponsored events for health professionals and found nurses

attended more than 46,000 in the four years up to September 2015. Nurses were present at nearly 40% of events, which was twice as often as GPs. However, nurse practitioners – the category

of nurse that can prescribe medicines in Australia – attended less than 1% or 1,013 events. A small proportion of events included nurses only. The study, which was published as a research

letter in the journal _JAMA Internal Medicine_, suggested much more attention had been given to payments from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to doctors to date. But it was clear

firms were increasingly interested in nurses, perhaps because of their influential role in areas including procurement, said the researchers, led by nurse Dr Quinn Grundy. Concerns flagged

over pharma payments to nurses Quinn Grundy “Although a small proportion of nurse attendees had prescribing authority, non-prescribing nurses may have been routinely included in

pharmaceutical industry-sponsored events, which perhaps reflects their role in medication compliance, the management of chronic disease, and hospital purchasing,” said the letter. Commenting

on the study, Elissa Ladd, associate professor in nursing, and Alex Hoyt, assistant professor in nursing, both from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, said the findings had

“important global lessons”. “The frequent presence of nurses at pharmaceutical company-sponsored educational events indicates they are valued by industry in a way that has heretofore gone

unnoticed,” they wrote in a linked commentary in the journal. The two US nurse academics suggested that pharmaceutical companies would not continue to invest in nurses in this way unless

there was a good return. “Financial allocation for promotion to nurses most certainly provides a very positive return on investment for the pharmaceutical industry; they would not continue

to invest in these activities unless they resulted in favourable financial outcomes,” they said. The industry may see nurses as “very influential” in purchasing or when it came to more

informal guidance for patients on treating for chronic conditions. Concerns flagged over pharma payments to nurses Elissa Ladd “In addition, nurses without prescribing authority may

influence prescribing patterns by steering prescriptions toward the brand-name drug brought by pharmaceutical representatives or suggesting that patients start with samples,” they wrote.

Drug companies may well be seeking to capitalise on the fact nursing was the “most trusted” profession, as suggested in a recent Gallup poll, they added. The study called for transparency

regulations and conflict of interest management to routinely include nurses as well as doctors. In June this year the UK pharmaceutical industry launched a public database disclosing

payments to healthcare professionals including nurses.