Nursing Education Doesn't Prepare Nurses to Question Pharmaceutical Industry Bias: New Study
The pharmaceutical industry has made nurses "soft targets" for drug marketing purposes, but nursing education still does little to teach nurses to recognize and question pharmaceutical industry bias in marketing literature or sales tactics. The finding is the result of a scientific review of nursing literature recently published in PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Public Library of Science.
By reviewing all published nursing literature addressing the influence of drug companies on nurses and their education, researchers determined that only about 40% of scientific journal articles written by nurses express any serious concerns about the role of the pharmaceutical industry in influencing nurses' behavior. Twelve percent of the articles studied were blatantly favorable of the industry, and another 44% expressed either mild concern about the pharmaceutical industry, viewed pharmaceutical support as favorable, or identified both the harms and benefits of the industry's involvement in medicine.
Authors of the study warn that the inability of many nurses to recognize marketing bias can carry medical consequences, and recommend that nursing students be encouraged to view promotional information with a degree of skepticism, as it is generally carefully selected and not particularly beneficial to medical decision-making. The authors also make policy recommendations that would restrict the influence of external commercial interests in medical treatment.
Previously on the DC Metro Area Medical Malpractice Law Blog, we have posted articles related to:
- New evidence that pharmaceutical companies spend more on advertising and marketing than research and development
- How medical schools influence the ways in which physicians interact with pharmaceutical representatives
- Two studies indicating that physicians are still being romanced by drug companies
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