Physician and Medical Representative Interaction in Iraqi Private Sector: A Qualitative Study

Pharmaceutical companies assign a budget for activities and promotions that aim to change the prescription habits of the physicians to choose the most suitable medications for their patients, which will eventually grow their sales. The study's objectives were to explore physicians' and medical representatives' perspectives on the criteria of impactful professional PP and the factors influencing the interaction between physicians and medical representatives. Qualitative in-depth interviews with flexible probing techniques were carried out in 2023. A semi-structured, open-ended interview questionnaire was used to interview physicians and medical representatives (MRs) from different private clinics in several governorates in Iraq. Ten physicians and ten MRs participated in this study. For physicians, pharmaceutical promotion was a beneficial profession. The number of patients in the clinic of patients and the obtained benefits of the medication were the most important factors interfering with physician acceptance of MR visits, and they usually refused the visit if the MR was from a new or unknown company. The majority requested to be updated about the advantages of the drug, the price, and recent studies about the medications. Regarding MR overviews, most MRs believed that PP enhanced the link between the physician and the patients. The scientific knowledge of the representative was the most important factor affecting the relationship between the physician and MR. For that, most MRs need the company to improve their scientific data about advertised medications and their communication skills. The nature of a company (brand or generic) was the most important factor that affected the decision to accept the visit by a physician. If the physician is busy or the company is new, this sometimes leads to the physician's rejection. Both the physicians and MRs acknowledged that MR could enhance physicians' knowledge of medications. However, some believe this role is limited to scientific MR rather than encompassing all MR. Finally, we can conclude that various factors and considerations may influence the nature of the physician-MR relationship. Some of these were associated with the company itself, which ought to have equipped MRs with proficient scientific expertise and effective communication skills. The increasing number of generic medications, the presence of numerous medical companies, and the inadequate training of MRs all contribute to the complexities of MR's job and potentially have a negative impact on the future of medical advertising.