lot of traffic in a medical office. Pharmaceutical representatives are required by law to have a physician or licensed mid-level provider, such as a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner, sign off on any samples left. This can create a large influx of people standing around waiting for a provider’s signature. These drug reps usually try to talk to the providers about the products they are soliciting, thus taking the provider away from patient care. Even with office policies in place limiting the number of reps in the building per day and stating that they are to remain in a waiting area for a signature to be obtained, there is a huge problem with pushy reps. They often stand at a nursing station, waiting for a provider to come out of a room. They do not excuse themselves from an area when a patient is being triaged or asking questions to a nurse. In my office, I have had to escort dozens of reps out of the patient care areas, threatening to contact their company about their conduct. Yet, some of these individuals continue to push and pry to get to a doctor. Our office has established lunchtime as the period of time that reps may detail their products to physicians. There is a lunchtime sign up calendar available at the drug rep check in area. We require that reps that are scheduled to be in the building to sample or to detail where visitor passes. This is to eliminate having other reps wonder through the building without appropriately following the office policies. Some of the actions taken in the office have been successful. Drug reps that respect the providers and the patients have stated that the policy implementation was long over due. The reps had free reign in the building for far too long. Those reps that like to push the envelope and attempt to sneak through are suspended from the building for a period of time, with a call going to their company. Some of these same reps are the very rude individuals ...
