Many medical conditions can be attended to without a physician's touch. So, Claritin might be reasonable to try next. Ads equalize power between clinician and patient. New pharmaceutical advances include more effective medications with less frequent dosing and fewer side effects. Patients who get their medical information from ad campaigns can be one step ahead when the doctor walks into the office.
Ads usually market tested goods.
Pharmaceuticals are evaluated and approved by the FDA, differently from dietary supplements, herbal essences and vitamins. Ads that promote medical products or services about which little scientific data are available do a disservice to patients. Ads allow patient and physician to know up front what is expected. A study published in the British Medical Journal last December showed that 67 percent of 526 patients waiting to see their primary care physician hoped for a prescription. One quarter of patients who wanted one left without it, presumably because they did not need it or could have been harmed.