SENIOR MOMENT

By BETTY MUNSEY/Columnist

I couldn’t help but be intrigued as I observed five pharmaceutical company representatives entering and exiting a family physician’s office during a 60-minute time period.  I had remained in our car waiting for a family member to visit the doctor and watched as the parade of company representatives started mid-morning and may have continued throughout the day.
They weren’t hard to recognize with their briefcases filled with free samples and other goodies.  They were dressed to the max in business professional attire¬—in most cases suits for both men and women¬—while their hair styles were perfectly coiffed.  Company nametags attached to their lapels probably provided them with direct access to the inner sanctums of the medical offices. Three out of the five were driving vehicles with out-of-state tags.  As they raised either their trunk or back hatches, it was obvious that they had many stops to make before the end of their day based on the boxes of goodies stored therein.
These young professionals are part of a selective group.  Career recruiters estimate 150 applications are received for each pharmaceutical sales position.  Medical backgrounds are not required but are highly sought after in these drug rep positions which number in excess of 90.000. Even though their salaries are enticing, their work is grueling and demands individuals who are smart, tough and self motivating.  A drug rep’s job is to present the latest updates on new and established drugs to medical professionals while respecting their positions in very limited time restraints.
We, the patients, become exasperated when the doctor or his staff stops to visit with these company representatives thus causing patient numbers to multiply in the waiting room. Yet we also benefit from these high-class traveling salesmen who hand deliver the latest product information to our health care providers along with volumes of free samples which are indirectly delivered to us and especially older senior patients on limited incomes.  Their products are further advertised around the medical office in the form of clocks on the wall, product brochures in bulletin racks, ballpoint pens, writing pads, prescription pads, and even out-of-the-office signs for the main door. Plates of fruit, cookies, candies, sandwiches and other goodies delivered by the company reps to office personnel surely create a more hospitable working environment for the staff and perhaps more smiles for waiting patients.
The “Zits” cartoon strip’s Dad, an orthodontist, hurriedly told his son, Jeremy, “my Novocain rep scored us three free tickets to the regional Bib and Spit-sink Trials,” which he equated to the “Stanley Cup of Orthodontia.” Just as Jeremy didn’t jump for the opportunity, I doubt that many of us would be equally excited. Actually in 2002, the drug industry adopted a new set of guidelines that limit enticements such as free trips, expensive dinners for doctors, and other forms of expensive entertaining so as to avoid any conflict of interest between the physicians and the pharmaceutical companies.
A retired Extension agent, Betty Munsey lives and farms in Bland County.