ABSTRACT
Relationships between health care professionals and pharmaceutical companies have become ethical issues due to the potential threat to the safety of patient care and public trust of health care professionals. These relationships become a conflict of interest when the pharmaceutical companies supply gifts to the physicians and other health care professionals to influence pharmacological treatment decisions. Ethical issues regarding the gift-giving of pharmaceutical industry representatives to health care professionals including nurses have been raised. Two of the laws and regulations that govern this activity are the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA) and Vermont’s Prescribed Product Gift Ban and Disclosure Law. As ethical issues are raised concerning the economic relationship between pharmaceutical company representatives and prescribers, laws are being put into action to increase transparency by requiring pharmaceutical companies to report any and all gifts. However, with the emergence of the AdvaMed rules, everything has changed. AdvaMed has members worldwide in the health care industry.
