[Physicians and drug industry: attitudes and practice].

BACKGROUND: There is a need for more knowledge on how doctors assess the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession. METHOD: Postal questionnaires survey in 2002 among a representative sample of 1606 Norwegian doctors. The response rate was 73%. RESULTS: 70% of the respondents indicated that continued medical education would suffer without participation from the pharmaceutical industry, and 40 % that the industry was important for their own updating of skills. 52% agreed that doctors were influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, but 40% claimed that this was not the case for them personally. Specialists in internal medicine, surgery and family medicine were more likely to travel abroad sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry, whereas specialists in family medicine and internal medicine more often attended industry-sponsored meetings in Norway. Psychiatrists were more likely to see the relationship between doctors and industry as too regulated. Young doctors were more sceptical towards the pharmaceutical industry than their older colleagues. INTERPRETATION: Norwegian doctors find that the pharmaceutical industry is important to their own professional development and this may complicate attempts to regulate this relationship. It is, moreover, a problem that doctors probably underestimate the influence of the industry.