Paying for those free meals may get just a little tougher. Bob Goodman, a New York physician who runs the ‘No Free Lunch’ campaign, has just placed his nationwide directory of doctors online. As he puts it: “Patients will no longer have to worry whether sushi rather than science, or Evian instead of evidence dictates their doctors’ choice of antibiotics.”

So far, the directory includes about 500 health care professionals - docs, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, and others - from 42 states who have pledged they will not accept gifts from industry and will rely on non-promotional sources of prescribing information. The database is sorted by specialty, city, state, and zip code.

“This is a way to get doctors familiar with /the issue,” Goodman tells Pharmalot. “I’m hopeful that word will get out through media attention and through professional societies, and the more doctors will take the pledge” to reject industry freebies. His goal is to reduce conflicts of interest and promotional influence, and rid waiting rooms of branded clocks, pens and notepads.

As Goodman sees it, the issue remains stubborn. He says docs attending the Annual Meeting of the American College of Physicians later this week in San Diego will see sales reps standing before enormous booths distributing ACP approved giveaways, such as desk clocks and USB memory sticks, despite a recently revised ACP position statement which reads: “As documented by some studies, the acceptance of even small gifts can affect clinical judgment and heighten the perception and/or reality of a conflict of interest.”

The No Free Lunch web site.
[tags]Bob Goodman, Conflicts Of Interest, Ethics, NoFreeLunch[/tags]