Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Will the new self imposed ban of the pharmaceutical industry affect the jobs of a pharmaceutical sales rep? The self imposed ban on gifting was effective January 1st of 2009. This industry has been under scrutiny for some time because of the fact that they have been accused of buying physicians' loyalty. Some examples of this are lavish gatherings, free vacations and hugely inflated speaking engagement fees. The pharmaceutical sales rep is given an enormous budget with which they attempt to sway the physicians to use their particular product. To say these tactics are borderline unethical is to voice what many already know. The pharmaceutical industry's self imposed ban is at best, a weak attempt at damage control. The new Barack Obama administration promises to clean up Washington and the pharmaceutical industry and their pharmaceutical sales reps have been heavily involved in lobbying for many years including the Bush administration. The pharmaceutical sales rep now has a more difficult job in trying to get face time with the physicians that are in their territory. One of the biggest challenges a pharmaceutical sales rep faces is to get through the front line office staff which can include receptionists, front desk personnel and any number of medical assistants. I used to manage this type of staff in a very busy practice that included three physicians. All of the physicians were also surgeons and therefore split their time between the hospital and the clinic. I was specifically instructed that under no circumstances was a pharmaceutical sales rep to be let past the waiting room without an appointment. No one in any of the front desk positions were allowed to schedule an appointment without permission from the physician. This usually resulted in the pharmaceutical sales rep leaving their business card along with gifts for the staff which could include pens, pads of paper, candy in jars with the company logo on it. At that point, one of the front office staff left a memo for the physician regarding the calling of the pharmaceutical sales rep. If the pharmaceutical sales rep was fortunate enough to receive a return phone call, they were schedule buy the physician's secretary to bring in lunch for the whole office staff. It was office policy that only lunch meetings were permitted for the pharmaceutical sales rep. It was actually written in the policy and procedures manual. I believed this practice was more to boost the morale of the physician's office staff than anything else. Very few people working in the physician's office cared which company or drug the pharmaceutical sales rep was representing. They just wanted a free lunch which was in reality, a type of benefit or perk for working in the office. As such, the ban on gifting may hurt the pharmaceutical sales rep since they may never get through the gatekeepers that are the physician's front office staff and receptionists. It may not affect the pharmaceutical sales rep that has had a particular account for a long period of time. These types of relationships are good working relationships that have been developed over time. Related Articles Medical Sales Company Sales