Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29414998›Full record

ReviewPloS one2018

Pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers: Going beyond the gift - An explorative review.

Tom Latten, Daan Westra, Federica Angeli, Aggie Paulus, Marleen Struss, Dirk Ruwaard

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives in the United States and China: The Need for Professional Public Space.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2022
    Article
  2. Observational
  3. Disparity in pediatric neurosurgery provision of care: an illustration.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2020
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Tom LattenDepartment of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-7236-4829
Daan WestraDepartment of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Federica AngeliDepartment of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Aggie PaulusDepartment of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Marleen StrussDepartment of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Dirk RuwaardDepartment of Health Services Research, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionInteractions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers are increasingly scrutinized by academics, professionals, media, and politicians. Most empirical studies and professional guidelines focus on unilateral donor-recipient types of interaction and overlook, or fail to distinguish between, more reciprocal types of interaction. However, the degree of goal alignment and potential for value creation differs in these two types of interactions. Failing to differentiate between these two forms of interaction between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers could thus lead to biased conclusions regarding their desirability. This study reviews the empirical literature regarding the effects of bilateral forms of interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers in order to explore their effects. MATERIAL AND

methodsWe searched two medical databases (i.e. PubMed and Cochrane Library) and one business database (i.e. EBSCO) for empirical, peer-reviewed articles concerning any type of bilateral interaction between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers. We included quantitative articles which were written in English and published between January 1st, 2000 and October 31st, 2016, and where the title or abstract included a combination of synonyms of the following keywords: pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, interaction, and effects.

resultsOur search results yielded 10 studies which were included in our analysis. These studies focused on either research-oriented interaction or on education-oriented interaction. The included studies reported various outcomes of interaction such as prescribing behavior, ethical dilemmas, and research output. Regardless of the type of interaction, the studies either reported no significant effects or ambivalent outcomes such as affected clinical practice or ethical issues. DISCUSSION AND

conclusionThe effects of bilateral interactions reported in the literature are similar to those reported in studies concerning unilateral interactions. The theoretical notion that bilateral interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers have different effects given their increased level of goal alignment thus does not seem to hold. However, most of the empirical studies focus on intermediary, provider-level, outcomes such as altered prescribing behavior. Outcomes at the health system level such as overall costs and quality of care are overlooked. Further research is necessary in order to disentangle various forms of value created by different types of interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers.

Indexed as

Health PersonnelDrug IndustryHumans

Identifiers

PMID29414998
PMCPMC5802853

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.