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Date: | Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:40:55 EDT |
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I thought I would chime in with my two cents on Brenda's description of the
commonplace practice of formula salespeople being mistaken as members of the
health care team by managers who have more loyalty to formula companies than
they do to patients. You owe no allegiance to formula salespeople. The ethical
underpinnings of health care delivery specify that our duty and obligations
are to the patient not to corporate interests. NABA has long had this in
print in its Code monitoring report Selling Out Mothers and Babies. In the
Executive Summary of Selling Out Mothers and Babies is a quote that I use when I
in-service hospital nurses on this issue. This quote is from an old Ross
employee manual that allows nurses to see how they are viewed by their
pseudo-friends the formula salesmen. It helps them understand that they are being used
to peddle a product that has the potential for harm:
"Never underestimate the role of nurses. If they are sold and serviced
properly, they can be strong allies. A nurse who supports Ross is like another
salesman."
You may wish to share this quote with your director and the other nurses on
your unit. The type of situation you describe cheapens the nursing profession.
While never sharing any information with formula salespeople, you could
share with your director and colleagues that the DHA supplemented formula is
still technically under what is called post market surveillance. That means any
side effects seen from the use of this formula is to be reported to the
manufacturer and the FDA's MedWatch program. How many of the babies on your unit
who receive this formula suffer diarrhea and vomiting from ingesting it? This
should be logged and brought to the attention of the chief of pediatrics and
the FDA.
You might wish to secure a copy of your hospital's vendor policy to make
sure that the formula salespeople adhere to it. Verbal abuse should be reported
to your human resources department.
Please consider mailing me any of the materials that were used in this
presentation such as the handouts and the paper that stated how much the company
paid for the presentation so that I may use them in the next round of Code
monitoring. That $2000 came from the mothers who purchase formula, a product
that is vastly overpriced.
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA
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