I know there are a lot of potential ethics issues with Doctor’s and pharmaceutical sales reps. How would a med school look at an applicant who has 2 years of pharmaceutical sales experience? Would the doctor contact and drug training help, or would working for the pharmaceutical industry hurt?
It certainly won’t help, and it probably won’t hurt. You’ll certainly be asked about it and will be asked to have some insights into why there ARE these ethical issues and why it is something that concerns a lot of people… so you’ll need to be well-prepared about those perspectives. You might want to check out the group called No Free Lunch, I have to confess I’ve never looked at their website (I think it’s nofreelunch.com) but it’s med students, residents, and attending physicians who are concerned about the relationship between Big Pharma and medical education.
Mary
Thanks for the reply! I’m thinking about getting a job for about 2 years to save up some money before med school. I was considering volunteering at a hospital about 6 hours/week. If I got a job at a hospital would that help, or do they just want to see that I volunteered?
Thanks again!