Drug Information Professionals and Medical Writers: An Italian View

Abstract

In Italy, continuing education of prescribers and health professionals is based to a large extent on information from pharmaceutical companies, as shown also by the relative number of representatives and consequently by the consistent amount of pharmaceutical literature distributed. The lack of structured information from public or independent sources has given rise to the phenomenon of proliferation of sponsored supplements and material delivered by or connected to the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, it is essential to improve the reliability and quality of these sources through a multidisciplinary approach and interventions. A survey was carried out to ascertain the present and potential roles of drug information professionals in this complex scenario. Questionnaires answered by information professionals and structured telephone interviews with directors or copywriters of technical medical media (TMM) and pharmaceutical marketing agencies (PMA) show that at present drug information professionals have a limited role in the transfer of scientific information. For TMM and PMA the main sources of information are core journals and information processing is based on in-house resources. The involvement of drug information professionals (DIP) is still mainly primary documentation (document delivery), and is marginal in value-added activities, such as selecting, organizing, and analyzing. DIP have real convinctions regarding the need to bridge the gap between themselves and TMM/PMA in view of the implications for health. The next step could be to increase discussion between all the “actors” leading to an action plan.