Help with pediatric clinic

DDRN4me · Apr 9, 2008

for the car seat info; check with the local police/fire dept to see if they do education/car seat training. sometimes they will even coordinate with clinics to do free checks on car seats for people. also look on the American Academy of Pediatrics web site.

as far as the goodies from drug cos.. they are usually supplied by the sales people who leave samples etc; but they will need time to speak with the providers .

also check with your local health dept for information and handouts.etc. good luck!!!

Quickbeam, BSN, RN · Apr 9, 2008

In my state (I'm a Dept of Transportation nurse) car seat info is available through the DMV or State Patrol. You should be able to get tons of free information on car seats since the federal government gives grants to each state specifically for car seat safety.

Also, make sure you ask about booster seat information. In my state a booster seat is required for children 4-8 years old and between 40 and 80 #. Even if it isn't the law in your state it is good practice and there are materials out there.

scribblerpnp · Apr 9, 2008

I'll address the drug rep question.

To get a drug rep to visit, the primary care provider has to be willing to spend time with them. Also, you have to notify the drug company that you want them to visit. This is especially important if your clinic is brand new and not on the radar.

To notify you can do two things, 1. Is call someone you know in a nearby office and get the names and numbers of their reps and call them directly. or 2. Get out a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR). In either the front or the back is a list of all of the drug companies. Call the ones who manufacture drugs you will actullly prescribe and that are not generic- once a drug is generic the drug reps usually stop "selling" it.

Some drugs your office would probably use would be Singulair, Clarinex, RespiTann, Lodrane, Elidel, Pulmicort.

Don't forget to notify formula companies for formula samples. Similac, GoodStart, and Enfamil all have reps. Also most vaccine companies do too: GlaxcoSmithKline will have reps if you order your vaccines from them- which is usually cheaper than going via a supplier.

I helped to start up a new practice, and once I called a company to put in a drup rep request, it took about a month to get it going. It took about a year to get the work out to all of the reps who would be appropriate to come to our office.

Good luck. Reps are nice things to have around. I am always thankful for the free samples to give out to our patients who don't have insurance or who are low income, but make too much mony for Medicaid.

Cinthyaisabel · Apr 11, 2008

Thank you all for all your tips, Our office never gets any drug reps I spoke with our medical director about it and she states that she has tried to get drug reps in here in the past but has been unsuccessful. I guess it's because most of our patients don't have insurance or just have medicaid and can't afford the drugs the drug reps are trying to promote. :nono:

scribblerpnp · Apr 12, 2008

In my office, most of the drug reps that come in have meds that are covered by Medicaid (so the pts don't pay a penny). Actually, it is more difficult for the rep if their meds aren't covered by medicaid, since about 60% of our population IS medicaid. For example, in the state of WV, medicaid will pay for Singulair, Clainex, Nasonex, Sudal 12, and Lodrane. You BET these reps are at our offce at least twice a month. I write these RX like crazy this time of year, and with it being allergy season those reps are HOUNDING us to remember their drugs. (I also write the above meds not because of the drug reps, but because they are great products that work :yeah: )

When Sudal 12 first came out, it was covered on Medicaid. I had such good results with it, that our office frequently used it as a daily allergy med for the majority of my pts. As a result, that rep became the top one in sales in the state for that drug. Guess what? The majority of the Rx I wrote went to Medicaid pts. It wasn't a generic drug, but it was on the preferred list, so the pts didn't have to pay for it.

What you need to do is ask the doc what he writes a lot of that is not generic yet and that is covered by Medicaid. THEN you look up the company and call them stating, "We love your product and the MD or NP would like to speak with a rep about it."

There is no reason you shouldn't have a rep come in. Just because a med is on Medicaid doesn't mean there isn't a rep. If it hasn't been made into a generic, there is a rep for it.

Are you out in a really rural area? This can definately affect if reps visit you or not.