On average, third-year medical students receive one gift or attend one activity sponsored by a drug maker every single week.

Students claim they aren't swayed by such marketing to look more favorably on companies' products, but studies indicate that the programs and gifts do influence what drugs they prescribe upon becoming doctors.

Over 80 Percent Thought They Were Entitled to Gifts

For a recent study, anonymous questionnaires were sent to over 1,000 third-year medical students at eight different schools.

• Over 93 percent of the students were asked or required by a physician to attend at least one drug-company-sponsored lunch.
• Nearly 70 percent of the students believed gifts would not influence their practices.
• Close to 58 percent thought gifts would not affect colleagues' practices.
• There was a tendency for students to feel their peers were more likely to be influenced than they were.
• Over 80 percent of the students believed they were entitled to gifts.
• Most students didn't know whether or not their schools had a policy governing the acceptance of drug company gifts

More Likely to Mis-Prescribe

The researchers conducting the study said that drug company influence will make students more likely to prescribe (and mis-prescribe) marketed products, and that students need to be educated about how to handle promotional saturation.

This study was part of a themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on medical education. Other studies found that medical students are faced with working so many hours that they're as impaired as if they were nearly drunk, and that they have been inadequately trained to deal with a culturally diverse patient base.