Free Resources for Conducting Learning Sessions for Undergraduate Medical Students About Pharmaceutical Promotion

Pharmaceutical promotion has been shown in various studies to be an important influence on the prescribing behavior of doctors. Undergraduate students should be aware of promotion, be introduced to various tactics adopted by the industry and be able to respond to promotion. A survey conducted in 2004 showed most medical schools devoted only one to two hours of curriculum time to this topic. A number of free internet resources are available for faculty members interested in conducting sessions on this topic for students. This article discusses selected resources including the Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion, Understanding and responding to pharmaceutical promotion a practical guide, Healthy Skepticism website, Pharmedout website, No free lunch website, the website of the Citizen's Commission for Human Rights, the book Drug promotion: What we know, what we have yet to learn and resources dealing with disease mongering.