B.Y.O.P.

Looks like I'll not only be buying my own pens in 2009, but will need my own darn sticky notes and mugs as well. New guidelines for pharmaceutical companies will end this mini-fountain of free office supplies, and physicians will have to make their own judgments about the drugs they prescribe free of that subliminal influence from their writing utensils and coffee cups.

Now I do agree that this is a silly use of funds that could (but won't be) diverted to more productive ends by the companies who distribute these freebies by the gross. I am a bit miffed by the implication that a free roller-ball pen (and they are a godsend for those of us who spend our days scratching our way through handwritten charts) would change my decision-making process. I do rely on post-it notes to remember the next step in patient care ('Call Dr. M,' 'pre-authorize MRI,' 'check on last week's labs,' etc.). On the downside, I sometimes find to my horror that I've given a post-it note to a patient that incidentally advertises vaginal cream or a drug for erectile dysfunction. But I swear that I've never noted the note, then changed my therapeutic plan based on its message.

Oh well, I'll buy my own pens, apply my own message-free sticky notes, and drink my morning coffee from a mug that declares I'm "over 50 but not over the hill". But I'll hold out hope that the new conduct code won't cut off those drug money cookies.