The changing relationship between health care professionals and the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract

Although UCLA had established policies and procedures for visiting pharmaceutical representatives, changes in both the pharmaceutical business environment and in UCLA's physical environment mandated an update. To deal with the changes, a multidisciplinary team comprised of various departmental staff members met to develop a new vendor representative visitation policy that included the practice of drug sample distribution. More stringent registration requirements and shared responsibility for policy enforcement are the key elements of the new policy.