Want to know what med students think of pharma? Who doesn’t? So Epocrates, which makes handy-dandy devices that store medical info, surveyed 1,000 docs-to-be about the future of health care and other pressing matters, such as drugmakers, sales reps and marketing. Here’s what they had to say…

What is your opinion of the pharmaceutical industry?
Positive - 17 percent;
Negative - 28 percent;
Neutral - 54 percent;
No opinion - 1 percent.

What are the top influences on your opinion of the industry?
Pharmaceutical sales reps - 56 percent;
Attending physicians - 43 percent;
The media - 31 percent.

Should med schools limit access given pharma sales reps to students?
Yes - 42 percent;
No - 47 percent;
Don’t know - 11 percent.

As an aside, 92 percent of med students report having had contact with….

…a sales rep during their medical training, and nearly 90 percent feel that sales reps have some influence on prescribing behavior. The results are clearly mixed - students aren’t sure if they trust drugmakers, but want their reps around, contradicting recent ‘PharmFree’ efforts by the American Medical Student Association.

What are the potentially negative consequences of DTC advertising?
Misinformed patients - 66 percent;
Patients self-diagnosing - 66 percent;
Fear/concern among patients - 38 percent;
Undermines physicians - 27 percent;
Confusion about side effects - 24 percent;
Unnecessary office visits - 17 percent;
Wastes time during appointments - 9 percent.

Do you agree that disease awareness campaigns lead to early detection?
Strongly agree - 13 percent;
Agree - 39 percent;
Somewhat - 35 percent;
Neutral - 10 percent;
Somewhat disagree - 2 percent;
Disagree - 1 percent.

So students parrot practicing docs when it comes to DTC ads, but leave open the door for pharma to push more unbranded efforts.

Hat tip to BrandWeekNRx