Annals of emergency medicine
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To determine the extent and diversity of involvement of pharmaceutical representatives in emergency medicine residency programs and to assess chief residents' beliefs and attitudes concerning this activity. ⋯ The interaction of pharmaceutical representatives with emergency medicine residents and residencies is widespread. More than 50% of the institutions supporting emergency medicine residency programs have no formal guidelines with regard to the interaction of their residents with pharmaceutical representatives or their guidelines are not known to the person most responsible for approval and arrangement of the pharmaceutical representative interaction--the emergency medicine chief resident. While most chief residents believed that accepting small gifts was reasonable, they also believed that accepting gifts valued at $100 or more and pharmaceutical representative sponsorship of trips was inappropriate.