NP Testifies in Vermont Hearing About Drug Samples
After banning the traditional free marketing lunches for healthcare providers offered by pharmaceutical reps, the state of Vermont is considering requiring pharma companies to report or even eliminate free drug samples. At a hearing held by the state's attorney general's office yesterday, stakeholders were given a chance to state their opinions about the merits of sampling.
One of those stakeholders was nurse practitioner Dorothy Malone-Rising, who argued that samples help in her diabetes teaching. Here's what she told the hearing (according to an Associated Press report):
"I like to have a patient try a new medication that might have an expensive copay with a sample so we can be sure a patient tolerates the medicine before having to pay for it," said Dorothy Malone-Rising, a nurse-practitioner who works in the northern Vermont town of Johnson.
She said samples are especially important for diabetic patients, from whom preparing and giving themselves a first shot of insulin is often a traumatic experience.
"Having their provider at their side as they give their first injection is essential," Malone-Rising said.
Nancy Crigger, NP, offered a different opinion on drug sampling earlier this year in ADVANCE. What's your position? Do you use samples? Should samples be banned?