Patient satisfaction with physician responses during interactions prompted by pharmaceutical advertisements

• Pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is associated with patient satisfaction.
• Receipt of diagnosis has no significant influence on patient satisfaction.
• When patients mention DTCA, satisfaction decreases if the requested drug is not prescribed.
• Satisfaction is differentially impacted by the reason given for denial of prescription.
• Decreased patient satisfaction may threaten physician authority.

The rise of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has significantly influenced the way that physicians and patients interact. This study explores the factors associated with patients’ satisfaction during a physician visit that was prompted by DTCA. Results indicate that patients who do not receive a prescription when mentioning a DTCA drug are significantly less likely to be satisfied with their physician visit. In contrast, the receipt of a diagnosis has no significant impact on patient satisfaction. Other factors associated with patient satisfaction were whether or not the patient received the exact drug that he or she requested or a different drug, and the specific reason for denial of a prescription for the requested drug. Instead of accepting a doctor's recommendations and complying without question, patients are now unhappy with their physicians’ decisions when these decisions do not adhere to the patient's expectations, which are formed by DTCA.