The study had several limitations. First, it did not find that the policies caused the change in prescribing, only that there was an association between the two. Also, the study was observational, meaning that doctors were not randomly assigned to hospitals with and without policies. And the study took policies at their word, not looking at their implementation or follow through.
Dr. Howard Bauchner, JAMA’s editor in chief, said the study helps to crystalize the need to limit pharmaceutical company marketing in teaching hospitals “as a way of ensuring that there’s no influence, no inappropriate influence over prescribing.”
Bauchner said he isn’t bothered that the researchers only found significant results in fewer than half of the teaching hospitals studied. “Nothing is ever 100 percent effective,” he said. “To me that’s no different than a clinical trial. Not everyone benefits.”
An editorial that accompanied the research suggests that alternative approaches to educating doctors about drugs 2014 besides relying on drug company promotion 2014 need to be tested. “It has never been more important for physicians to come together to consider these alternatives, generate evidence about their effectiveness, and move the health care system toward solutions that lower costs for patients and minimize” conflicts of interest, wrote Colette DeJong and Dr. R. Adams Dudley of the University of California, San Francisco.
