Many doctors hand out samples of prescription medications at their office. For example, a friend of mine was just telling me how she was just put on a new drug for her mildly high cholesterol. Instead of first starting her out on a low cost, equally effective, generic version of a cholesterol-lowering drug, the doctor gave her samples of a highly expensive, newer, brand name drug that the drug company representative had just dropped off at the office. This scenario happens all too often.

The problem comes when the free samples run out and you must go to the pharmacy to fill your prescription for that drug. Many times, you’ll find that your insurance does not cover the newer, more expensive drug. The worst part? Now you’re hooked. Drug companies know this. This is why they go through the trouble of handing out free drugs in the first place.

There are other instances where the free sample given to you may not be the best drug for your condition. Perhaps there is a drug that has been shown to be more effective, with less side effects for your condition, but your doctor chose to give you the samples instead. Many doctors may think they are helping you out by saving you money in the short term, but in the long term, they may be jeopardizing your health.

Now free samples are not always a bad thing, however, you must empower yourself so that you can discuss with your doctor whether the samples are the best drug for your condition. If a doctor uses evidence-based medicine, he will only give you the free samples if they are in line with current guideline recommendations for your condition. You see, there are reputable organizations out there that have put forth treatment guidelines for many of the conditions out there today. These guidelines tell us what medications have been shown to be the most effective, least expensive and have the least amount of bad side effects. These guidelines are published in medical journals.

Examples of these guidelines include the ATP III guidelines for high cholesterol or the JNC   VII guidelines for high blood pressure. The problem is, to have access to these guidelines, you would need to subscribe to one of these journals and be able to read medical jargon.

At Empowered Medicine, all of the information presented on our site is based on these guidelines and evidence-based medicine. Here, this information is also presented in plain, simple terms we can all understand. These guidelines are considered to be the ‘standard of practice’ for physicians. Physicians who use evidence-based medicine reference these guidelines. They don’t prescribe medications just because the drug company representative dropped off some free samples at the office.

The concept of evidence-based medicine is easy. It means that the best way to provide quality medical care is to base decisions on the best available scientific evidence. Doctors practice evidence-based medicine by following the guidelines. When a physician practices evidence-based medicine, the patient can rest assured that they are receiving current, high quality health care based on sound scientific evidence.