In the past decade there have been several policy changes within the health care community limiting access of pharmaceutical representatives to prescribers. This study examined the impact of lack of access to pharmaceutical representatives on internal medicine prescribers’ knowledge of medications. A web-based survey targeting prescribers’ current practice of obtaining information about new medications, their knowledge of two recently approved medications, and helpfulness of educational in-services by pharmaceutical representatives was conducted. Results showed the most common methods used to gain information of medications are conferences, journals, and word of mouth. Of the two new medications, 90% of prescribers were not at all familiar with one and approximately half were somewhat familiar with the other. More than 70% found the in-service education by pharmaceutical representatives very to somewhat helpful. Overall, this study showed that limiting access to pharmaceutical representatives has had a negative impact on prescribers’ knowledge of medications.
","abstract_html":"<p>In the past decade there have been several policy changes within the health care community limiting access of pharmaceutical representatives to prescribers. This study examined the impact of lack of access to pharmaceutical representatives on internal medicine prescribers’ knowledge of medications. A web-based survey targeting prescribers’ current practice of obtaining information about new medications, their knowledge of two recently approved medications, and helpfulness of educational in-services by pharmaceutical representatives was conducted. Results showed the most common methods used to gain information of medications are conferences, journals, and word of mouth. Of the two new medications, 90% of prescribers were not at all familiar with one and approximately half were somewhat familiar with the other. More than 70% found the in-service education by pharmaceutical representatives very to somewhat helpful. Overall, this study showed that limiting access to pharmaceutical representatives has had a negative impact on prescribers’ knowledge of medications.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Brink, Patricia J"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Health Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Irwin G. Martin","Stephen Sonstein"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:13Z","subjects":["access to prescribers","detailing","education","knowledge","medications","pharmaceutical sales","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/792","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Irwin G. Martin","Stephen Sonstein"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Brink, Patricia J"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-03-07T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Health Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["access to prescribers","detailing","education","knowledge","medications","pharmaceutical sales","Medicine and Health Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/792"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In the past decade there have been several policy changes within the health care community limiting access of pharmaceutical representatives to prescribers. This study examined the impact of lack of access to pharmaceutical representatives on internal medicine prescribers’ knowledge of medications. A web-based survey targeting prescribers’ current practice of obtaining information about new medications, their knowledge of two recently approved medications, and helpfulness of educational in-services by pharmaceutical representatives was conducted. Results showed the most common methods used to gain information of medications are conferences, journals, and word of mouth. Of the two new medications, 90% of prescribers were not at all familiar with one and approximately half were somewhat familiar with the other. More than 70% found the in-service education by pharmaceutical representatives very to somewhat helpful. Overall, this study showed that limiting access to pharmaceutical representatives has had a negative impact on prescribers’ knowledge of medications.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Internal medicine prescribers' knowledge of medications and effects of lack of access to pharmaceutical representatives"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Irwin G. Martin","Stephen Sonstein"],"dc:creator":["Brink, Patricia J"],"dc:date.available":["2018-03-07T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In the past decade there have been several policy changes within the health care community limiting access of pharmaceutical representatives to prescribers. This study examined the impact of lack of access to pharmaceutical representatives on internal medicine prescribers’ knowledge of medications. A web-based survey targeting prescribers’ current practice of obtaining information about new medications, their knowledge of two recently approved medications, and helpfulness of educational in-services by pharmaceutical representatives was conducted. Results showed the most common methods used to gain information of medications are conferences, journals, and word of mouth. Of the two new medications, 90% of prescribers were not at all familiar with one and approximately half were somewhat familiar with the other. More than 70% found the in-service education by pharmaceutical representatives very to somewhat helpful. Overall, this study showed that limiting access to pharmaceutical representatives has had a negative impact on prescribers’ knowledge of medications.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/792"],"dc:subject":["access to prescribers","detailing","education","knowledge","medications","pharmaceutical sales","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"dc:title":["Internal medicine prescribers' knowledge of medications and effects of lack of access to pharmaceutical representatives"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Health Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:13Z"}